NEW YORK — Thousands of people were within earshot of Jalen Brunson, on the heels of maybe his team’s most important win during his time as a New York Knick. All were jubilant. Some were shocked. Others unhinged. All wearing blue and orange. Millions more stared at Brunson through a television screen. New York’s star guard was in a familiar position: standing on the court after a win, a national television reporter to his left and a cameraman in front of him, just feet away.
However, Brunson was preoccupied. His attention wasn’t where it needed to be. His mind was, though. With Brunson’s interview getting ready to start, he looked over to his right and furiously waved his arms.
“I was actually telling everyone to get off the court,” Brunson said. “It’s nothing to celebrate.”
It’s hard to blame those packed inside the historic Madison Square Garden for getting carried away. Their basketball team is one win away from getting to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years. Their basketball team had just finished a second-half master class to take a 3-1 series lead over the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics. Their basketball team is on the doorstep of proving every single person wrong. Their basketball team won a big game in front of them.
Celebrate. Enjoy it. Take it in. New York fans deserved that moment.
However, their captain is correct. Monday’s 121-113 win over the Celtics didn’t guarantee anything. It only put New York more comfortably in the driver’s seat in territory unseen since Bill Clinton was in office. With that said, with a potential close-out Game 5 back in Boston on Wednesday, the Knicks will drive to the Eastern Conference finals in style if they play like they did for the bulk of the game’s final 24 minutes Monday night.
Call it fluky. Call it undeserved. Call it whatever you want. But New York is up 3-1, not Boston. The Celtics wanted to play with their food through the first two games, holding 20-point leads late in both before losing. The Knicks have shown time and time again this season to be the team to snatch the plate off the table. They deserve credit for that — that part of who New York is and has been.
What happened in Game 4, though, wasn’t fluky. The Knicks were simply better than the Celtics for nearly all of the second half. They played their best offensive basketball of the postseason for 21 of the 24 minutes. They went toe-to-toe with the defending champs in a critical swing game in the series before deciding to put them on the canvas late. It took a little from everyone for the Knicks to prevail, and that’s why this team is on the cusp of doing something special.
“That’s what it felt like,” OG Anunoby said. “We forced them into tough shots and moved the ball really well on offense.”
The Celtics’ biggest lead was by 14 points early in the third quarter. That happened after a Josh Hart steal immediately turned into a Karl-Anthony Towns turnover and Derrick White 3. Tom Thibodeau, wearing his frustration on his face, immediately called a timeout. The timeout, though, ignited his ballclub, similar to the one he called in the first quarter when Boston jumped to an early 13-4 lead. Thibodeau’s timeouts were critical. Whatever happened in those huddles woke up his team.
After the White 3 in the third quarter, Brunson came out of the timeout and turned into the best player on the court. He hit a stepback 3, then two free throws and then, shortly after that, a layup. Brunson scored 18 of his 39 points in the third. New York, down 11 at halftime, went into the fourth up 88-85.
“Honestly, do we all expect anything less?” Towns said of Brunson. “Man, it’s special when you get to watch him doing that.”
In the fourth, Mikal Bridges borrowed Brunson’s cape. He hit midrange jumper after midrange jumper to help the Knicks get further over the hump and in control. Bridges scored 10 of his 23 points in the final frame. He had seven rebounds for the second time this series. He had critical deflections.
“I’ve seen it since 2015,” Brunson said of Bridges, his college teammate at Villanova. “I’ve seen the way his work ethic has grown each year. I’ve seen everything he does, how psychotic he is. It all pays off. I have full trust in him, no matter what the situation is.
“That’s the thing about me and him: We don’t take things personal. We talk — sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s a little ugly, but we want to win.”
Anunoby sprinkled in brilliance everywhere despite having to sit for an extended period because of a hamstring injury. He hit timely 3s, like the one at the end of the third quarter to give New York an 88-85 lead and the one with the score tied at 102 with under six minutes to play. He had timely steals. With New York up 92-88 in the fourth, Anunoby read a Payton Pritchard-Jaylen Brown pick-and-pop like a book, jumped the passing lane and was immediately fouled. The play led to Brown getting his fifth foul with over 10 minutes left in the fourth.
Hart, at 6 feet 4, had nine rebounds, the second most in the game. Mitchell Robinson was too much for the Celtics to handle on the offensive glass. He was credited for five of those, but his activity made it feel like even more.
Then there was Towns. It wasn’t his offense that won this game, even though he was 11-for-15 from the field. It was his defense, most notably when left on an island and guarding Jayson Tatum or Brown. Towns held his own as an isolation defender for most of the series, rarely allowing either of the Celtics’ star wings to blow by him and forcing them into tough shots.
New York switched often Monday night, and Towns competed. It helps having Bridges and Anunoby in the gaps, but Towns was prideful on that end. On more than a few occasions, he didn’t even need the help Bridges and Anunoby provided.
Towns’ defense forced the Celtics’ stars into tough, contested shots. They weren’t able to make enough of them. Towns’ defense, more than once throughout this series, led to Boston’s demise late in games.
“He definitely stepped up to the challenge,” Brunson said. “As teammates, guys in the gap, guys in the help, just giving him confidence to press up and continue to play knowing that we have his back. By ‘we,’ I mean Mikal, Josh and OG … and an occasional charge from me.
“The way he stepped up to the plate was phenomenal. We need more of that, and I know he’s going to bring it to the table.”
At times this season, it felt like the Knicks were a talented team that didn’t quite fit together. In the second half of Game 4, they were whole and greater than the sum of their parts. That’s what it takes to win at this level.
New York is flirting with something few outside of its city limits thought it could get: a trip to the Eastern Conference finals. There’s still work to do, but the Knicks have three games to win one — and maybe without facing Tatum, as he suffered what appeared to be a serious injury in the fourth quarter.
One more. That’s it. And then, maybe, Brunson will let you celebrate.
(Photo of Josh Hart: Vincent Carchietta / Imagn Images)