Jalen Brunson scores 47 to set Knicks franchise playoff record in win over 76ers

PHILADELPHIA — With the huge contingent of Knicks fans who invaded Wells Fargo Center loudly cheering the heroics of Jalen Brunson as the third quarter came to a close Sunday afternoon, he screamed into a towel and made his way to the locker room. He was followed by a procession of Knicks officials.

Brunson banged knees with Philadelphia’s Kyle Lowry on the final play of a quarter in which he scored 15 points. With Brunson almost singlehandedly carrying the Knicks’ offense, the uncertainty left players and coaches glancing toward the tunnel as the fourth quarter began without him.

But just 2 minutes, 25 seconds into the period, he was back in the game. He picked up where he left off, leading the Knicks with a franchise-postseason-record 47 points and 10 assists in a 97-92 victory over the 76ers in Game 4.

His heroics gave the Knicks a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series and the chance to close it out Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

The scoring came from Brunson, and on this day, what his teammates added was mostly tenacious effort — rebounds, blocked shots, sweat and blood. Brunson was unstoppable, but the Knicks couldn’t have done it without the play of OG Anunoby.

With Mitchell Robinson ruled out shortly before game time with a sprained left ankle and Isaiah Hartenstein limited by foul trouble, Anunoby took on the assignment of defending Joel Embiid and shut down the 76ers star. He scored 27 points, but Anunoby limited him to two field goals and nine shots after the first quarter.

Josh Hart didn’t convert a field goal all game, missing all seven attempts, but he fought with five fouls for much of the fourth quarter. He finished with 17 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots, including two huge ones in the fourth quarter.

It was a perfect encapsulation of what the Knicks have been this season.

“Somehow we just found a way, kept fighting, kept sticking together,” Brunson said after the Knicks came back from a 12-point first-quarter deficit. “We found a way. When it’s ugly and we can find a way to win like that, when we’re not playing perfect, it’s a plus for us, a plus for our confidence. We’re not done yet. We’ve got to continue to have that pumped-up mentality and we’ve got to find a way to win another.”

“A lot of fight,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Got down early, just kept battling. A number of guys stepped up like they’ve done all year. So the defense was really good, the rebounding was really good.

“Lot of hustle in the game. I thought Josh was unbelievable, I think OG gave us great minutes. You can’t say enough about what Jalen did. And that’s really been the story of our season. Just hustling like crazy. And if we do that, good things will come from that.”

With a little more than a minute left, Precious Achiuwa grabbed a defensive rebound and Brunson slithered though the 76ers’ defense for a layup, giving him 45 points as the Knicks took a 95-89 lead.

But it was the Knicks’ defense that clamped down, not allowing a field goal after Kelly Oubre’s dunk with 5:04 to play and not a point until Embiid’s free throw with 54.3 seconds remaining. The 76ers missed their last 11 field-goal attempts.

Embiid was 0-for-5 and scored only one point in the fourth quarter as the Knicks flew around, rotating perfectly. Anunoby seemed to be everywhere, and when he had to switch, Achiuwa came up with a pair of blocks against Embiid.

Anunoby not only made the plays but asked Thibodeau for the assignment despite giving up four inches and at least 40 pounds.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Achiuwa said of Anunoby’s defense on Embiid.

“He might be pound for pound the best defender in the NBA. And he was able to show that tonight with his versatility, strength, challenging shots at the basket, being able to guard somebody like Embiid, who has a lot of weight on him. But he was able to hold his own and take the challenge.”

Everything was a challenge for the Knicks on this day, from the scratch of Robinson to losing Bojan Bogdanovic after 71 seconds of action as he suffered a left ankle contusion in a scramble for a loose ball.

“It’s encouraging because it’s not new to us,” said Hart, who played the final 8:47 with five fouls. “It’s something that we had, with Ju [Randle] going down, OG going down for a good amount of time, Mitch, that’s something that we’re just used to. Obviously, Mitch wasn’t able to get out there today. [Bogdanovic] got hurt a couple of minutes into his time. So we’ve got to continue that mentality of next man up and continue to play forward at this point.”

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.