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Tim Bontemps, ESPNApr 20, 2024, 11:37 PM ET
NEW YORK CITY– All season, the Knicks have actually reached Jalen Brunson might bring them.
When Brunson had an uncharacteristically off night versus the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, his colleagues were there to select up the slack.
There was Josh Hart striking a season-high 4 3-pointers, consisting of 3 in the last quarter. There was Brunson’s backup, Deuce McBride, choosing 21 points and ending up with a game-best plus-37. And there was Mitchell Robinson coming off the bench to get 7 of New York’s 23 offending rebounds.
They all played substantial parts in New York’s playoff-opening 111-104 triumph.
“It’s absolutely motivating,” stated Hart, who matched Brunson with a team-high 22 points. “We’ve been on his shoulders all season. And when he had a hard time, that’s when we needed to get.
“When your top pet dog is not playing well– not shooting well, I didn’t wish to state not playing well– you require other guys to select it up for him, which’s what we did.”
Brunson shot simply 8-for-26 from the flooring, consisting of 1-of-6 from 3-point variety, to opt for 7 rebounds, 7 helps and 5 turnovers.
On a night when he and the rest of the Knicks beginners completed with negatives in the plus-minus column, the bench assisted New York hold home-court benefit to start this Battle of Interstate 95.
“They played incredible from the start to complete,” Brunson stated. “Whenever they remained in, they made plays. A credit to them for their preparation.”
New york city’s beginners had a hard time since Philadelphia usually had the ability to manage the video game when Joel Embiid was on the court. In his 37 minutes, Embiid had 29 points, 8 rebounds and 6 helps, and Philadelphia outscored the Knicks by 14.
In the other 11 minutes, however, it was a various story. New york city won those minutes by a rating of 29-8, mostly powered by a bench system including Bojan Bogdanovic (13 points), Robinson and McBride at the start of the 2nd and 4th quarters.
“We had another among those second-quarter starts where we didn’t safeguard anyone,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse stated. “We had a hell of a very first quarter. We come out to begin the 2nd quarter, and it is bang, bang, bang. The quarter is off to a bad start.”
Even after those battles– and with Embiid on the bench from an injury scare to his knee at the end of the very first half– the 76ers still were leading in the 4th quarter. Hart, left wide-open from 3-point variety, buried 3 from deep to assist New York rise into the lead for great.
“It felt excellent,” Hart stated of making those shots. “The last 2 video games of the routine season,