Knicks' Jalen Brunson sinks late three-pointer to cap comeback win over Pacers
The Knicks' Jalen Brunson gestures after making a three-pointer in the fourth quarter against the Pacers on Thursday in Indianapolis, Indiana. Credit: Getty Images/Dylan Buell
INDIANAPOLIS — The Knicks celebrated the NBA Cup title as if they’d won an NBA championship. As the confetti flew, some of the players — and coach Mike Brown — believed it would merit a banner rising to the rafters to commemorate the franchise’s first championship in 52 years.
But the organizational decision was that the Knicks would be the first team to win the Cup and pass on the banner. “The organization is incredibly proud of the players and staff,” a league source said, “but ultimately is focused on big stuff in June.”
The thing is, maybe as much as they celebrated Tuesday’s win, the game really was not any bigger than any other night once the confetti settled. The point was made Thursday as the Knicks returned to the regular season; on a night when even Mike Brown said he would understand if they threw in the towel, Jalen Brunson refused.
So after trailing by as many as 16 points and despite playing shorthanded, the Knicks were within two when they called timeout with 11.4 seconds left. Then Brunson delivered a message and a dagger, sinking a go-ahead three-pointer with 4.4 seconds left to give the Knicks a 114-113 win over the Pacers.
“Our MVP, the league’s MVP, Jalen Brunson — we call timeout, took another timeout and drew up another play,” Brown said. “As Jalen’s walking out on the floor, Jalen turns to me, he says, ‘I’m getting this win. I’m going for it.’ I said, ‘You do you. That’s who you are. You do you.’ He went out and he came through. That’s what real MVPs do. I’m glad I’m part of his team.”
“Mike drew up a play and allowed me to get right,” Brunson said. “I asked him if I could go for the win and he said sure . . . But I work at it and it’s a shot I’m comfortable taking and just happy it went in that time.”
The Pacers still had a chance to win, but OG Anunoby’s steal of the inbounds pass clinched it.
Brunson finished with 25 points, seven assists and seven rebounds and Mikal Bridges had 22 points. Jordan Clarkson hit five three-pointers and added 18 points for the Knicks (19-7).
Andrew Nembhard scored 31 points and Pascal Siakam had 26 for Indiana (6-21).
As the Knicks convened at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, there were signs of the cost of the playoff-like march the team had taken, as Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson sat out. Little-used Ariel Hukporti, Mo Diawara, Trey Jemison III and Pacome Dadiet totaled nearly 68 minutes of playing time. But Brunson never gave in.
Maybe there is something to the thought that this group just plays to win every single night.
Just 7:31 into the game, the Knicks found themselves trailing by 16 points and Brown was scrambling to find combinations from the depths of the bench to try to get back in it.
The Knicks recovered but fell behind by 16 again late in the third quarter. They fought back with Tyler Kolek — who finished with 16 points and 11 assists, both career highs — providing a spark, just as he had in the NBA Cup final.
Kolek gave the Knicks their first lead since 5-3 as he hit a midrange jumper for a 95-94 advantage with 8:41 to play.
They then fell behind by seven but rallied again. Kolek found Anunoby with a cross-court feed for a three-pointer that tied the score at 111 with 1:51 remaining. But after Brunson misfired twice and turned the ball over with chances to tie, Siakam put Indiana back in front with 16.9 seconds to play, converting a pair from the line.
One more time, the Knicks put the ball in Brunson’s hands, and the reigning NBA Clutch Player of the Year delivered.
Banner or not, maybe the Knicks will move past the NBA Cup as just a stepping stone along the way to bigger things.
Maybe at the end of the season, the banner for a midseason win won’t be necessary.
“It was just an organizational decision at the end of the day,” Brown, who was an assistant with the Spurs when they won an NBA title in 2003 and an assistant on three of Golden State’s championship teams, said of the banner decision. “I will say any time you can be the last one standing in anything you do, it’s an honor.
“It was a great run. Our guys got a taste of something that can be special at the end of the day for us, where there is a different type of pressure than the regular season. And we all feel good about it. I feel good about it. But it was an organizational decision.”
He added, “Hey, it was a heck of a run. We can cherish this. We can talk about this for the rest of our lives. We can talk about it with our grandkids at the end of the day. But there’s more to this season.
“This is a taste of what we can do. We can’t afford to get comfortable because of winning it at this point in the season. And so we got to get back to work. And it’s going to be tough because everybody is human and it’s natural to accomplish something like that and then relax to a certain degree, thinking you’ve arrived and now it’s time to take a deep breath. No, no, no, no, no . . . Now there’s an extra target on our back. And we have to live up to what we believe the expectations are.’’
Notes & quotes: Deuce McBride, who has been with the Knicks for the entire road trip despite the ankle sprain that has sidelined him, has been doing on-court work but has yet to do any full-contact scrimmaging.
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.
