PHILADELPHIA — By the end, the city’s angry basketball supporters had given up on drowning out the chants. In any case, most of them were halfway up the Ben Franklin Bridge when Kyle Lowry, a shrewd player (who decided he was too smart by half), intentionally shot a free throw without informing his teammates of his intentions. It ran away when I removed it.
Now, here Jalen Brunson was standing at the free throw line, conjuring history with his knee throbbing with 5.0 seconds left in the final moments of one of the greatest playoff games you’ve ever seen. In the first game, the Knicks cut the lead to four points and nearly decided the game, holding a commanding 3-1 lead in this best-of-seven series against the 76ers.
The second shot made him history, passing Bernard King to become the sole leader in single-game playoff scoring for a team that had been in the playoffs since 1947 with his 47th point. He also ensured a 97-92 Knicks victory that even the 76ers couldn’t help but be soundly beaten at every key moment.
“Jalen is a great player,” OG Anunoby said. If basketball imitated hockey, he would have earned the game’s second star. Not only did he have 16 points and 14 rebounds, but he was able to shut down Joel Embiid in the fourth quarter, giving Embiid a chance to do it. Even though he gave 5 inches and 40 pounds, he was contained. “You’ve come to expect it.”
he smiled.
“You expect him to make every shot.”
Brunson didn’t make everything, but he made 18 of 34 shots. No player in Knicks history had scored more than 40 points and had more than 10 assists in a playoff game. The list grew every Sunday. Maybe it won’t be on the same shelf as Clyde Frazier’s legendary 36-point, 19-assist, seven-rebound, five-steal masterpiece in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals.
But it’s right behind it. And that was certainly more than any game King scored during the 1984 playoffs, scoring 40 points or more in six of 12 games. In back-to-back games against the Pistons that year, King bookended the game with 46 points. However, the Knicks lost one of those games, Game 2 at the Silverdome.
Brunson was desperate to avoid receiving the worst noise in basketball for him: being praised for a noble effort in a losing cause.
“Somehow we found a way,” he said.
That’s because Brunson did everything in his power to match Embiid’s incredible 50 points in Game 3, and somehow managed to do it without committing any misdemeanors to anyone. That’s because Anunoby was great on both ends, with Precious Achiuwa taking down Mitch Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein answering the call with five fouls. They were able to do that because Miles McBride hit a gut-check 3, Josh Hart imposed his will without making a single field goal, and grabbed 17 rebounds.
And they did it, quite surprisingly, in an environment that was far from the expected house of horrors at the Wells Fargo Center. There were enough Knicks fans pouring in on Sunday that it was sometimes hard to close your eyes. Especially to know who was the home team and who was the road team when Brunson hit the free throws.
“Ma! Vu! Pee!” they yelled.
“Ma! Vu! Pee!” they roared.
“Ma! Vu! Pee!” they thundered, and Philadelphia fans tried to fight back for most of the day before the game ended, just as the Knicks were aiming to do when they got here four days earlier. It was clear that he intended to do so.
“The Philadelphia fan base is relentless and very passionate. I’m an Eagles fan so I should know,” Brunson said. “But it was so cool to hear the voices of Knicks fans here. It was amazing. They’re real. No matter where we are, they’ll be there.”
Unsurprisingly, Embiid (who still had a respectable 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists) wasn’t as happy about the sound failure as Brunson.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I love our fans. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t blame them.”
Then he started calling out to his fans with a megaphone.
“But it’s a shame. Obviously there’s a lot of Knicks fans and there always will be, but I’ve never seen one and I’ve been here for 10 years. Well, especially in Philadelphia, there’s a lot of sports. It kind of pisses me off because it’s considered a city. They’ve always shown up, but I don’t think that should happen.”
The Knicks still have some work left to do since returning to the Garden from Tuesday night, having already escaped double-digit deficits in three games and won three games, so Brunson was adamant, “We have to be better.” No,” he said.
Branson walked with the kings on Sunday afternoon, but declined to talk too much about his run through King, admitting it was “cool” but adding a fitting eulogy.
“If he doesn’t come back and help us win the next game…” he laughed. he won it.
