PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Brunson capped a historic series with a heroic effort.
The Knick guard was dominant with a game-high 41 points and 12 assists to lead New York to a first-round, Game 6, come-from-behind win over Philadelphia.
It came on the heels of an epic collapse in Game 5 at the Garden two nights earlier, the Knicks bouncing back behind their leader.
“[It means] a lot,” Brunson said. “In the locker room after the game it was quiet, so we all knew that we missed an opportunity. But we know that coming into [Game 6] we needed to have a good start. We haven’t had a good start all series. Obviously they fought back and took the lead, but the start definitely helped us, and it was back and forth from that point on.
“I just like the way we kept fighting. I think that’s what we’ve been talking about all year, just make sure we keep fighting no matter what the situation is, we have to stick together and we’re going to fight.”
The Knicks raced out to a 33-11 start. And even in a back-and-forth game that looked like a heavyweight fight, Brunson threw the hardest punches.
Every time Joel Embiid gave Philadelphia the lead, Brunson snatched it back either with a timely bucket or a huge pass.
“No matter what the situation is we’re going to attack it. I just think that no matter who’s in front of us or whatever we’re going to go out there, play our style of basketball,” Brunson said. “We’re going to grind. We’re going to respect our opponent. We’re going to know it’s always going to be a difficult situation no matter who you’re playing in this league.
“So going into this we knew it was going to be a grind and we just found ways to win — and found ways to lose, too. It’s always going to be something we’re going to continue to learn every single time we’re on the court. So it doesn’t really matter the situation or the team. We just know every situation is different and we need to approach it with the same mentality.”
Brunson had three games of at least 35 points and 10 assists in this series, only the second player to do that in a postseason series.
The other was Oscar Robertson, 51 years ago.
But his mind was already on to Indiana.
“That’s a real cool name to be a part of. But I’m focused on the next round already. We got to be a long way to go,” Brunson said on TV. “We’re going to keep fighting. That’s been our thing all year. No matter what happens, you want to come out the next day and we’re going to keep fighting.”
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