The New York Knicks won Game 1 of the East semifinals with a 108-105 overtime victory.
Jalen Brunson and the Knicks are starting to become synonymous with clutch. Brunson helped orchestrate a 20-point comeback to defeat the defending champion Boston Celtics in overtime on their home floor on Monday night, giving New York their fourth clutch win of the Playoffs – the most in the NBA.
Brunson, the second-leading scorer in the postseason at 31.1 ppg, has scored 77 points in the fourth quarter through seven games. He leads all players in fourth-quarter scoring by pouring in 11.0 points in 8.9 minutes per, all while shooting 50.9% from the field and 46.2% from 3-point range. He joined Kobe Bryant (2008) and Steph Curry (2023) as the only players to total at least 75 fourth-quarter points through the first seven contests of the Playoffs in the last 25 years.
The heroics displayed by New York’s star guard and his supporting cast tipped the historical scales in their favor, as teams that win Game 1 in a best-of-seven series go on to win more than 75% of the time. The Knicks’ victory is even more impressive when considering they were swept by the Celtics in four regular-season meetings by an average of 16.3 points.
After leading by 16 at halftime, Boston extended the advantage to 20 points around the midway mark in the third quarter. “We told each other just keep believing, keep fighting,” Brunson said postgame. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, two guys the Knicks moved mountains to acquire for this matchup specifically, stepped up alongside their captain.
Anunoby played all 12 minutes of the third quarter and dropped 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting with two made 3s, along with two assists. Brunson was right behind him with 9 points on 3-for-5 shooting and one made 3, matching his scoring total from the first half in a little over 11 minutes of action. And then it was clutch time.
Brunson added to his elite resume by scoring eight straight points in the fourth quarter to give the Knicks a 97-91 lead. Although he dropped 11 of his 29 in the final frame to help send it to overtime, it was the rest of New York’s starting unit that shut the door on the Celtics, who never led once the score was knotted at 100 apiece.
Bridges had his fingerprints all over the extra period. He played 51 minutes, the most he’s ever logged across his seven-year career, and finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. The stats don’t necessarily jump off the page, but his hustle and energy in the fourth quarter and overtime sparked his team to grab home court advantage in this semifinals series. His steal to begin OT led to an emphatic 3-point play on a dunk for OG Anunoby, and with Brunson locked up (0-4 FG in OT), Mikal nailed a clutch triple to put the Knicks ahead for good. With New York up 108-105 with 3.0 seconds left in the game, Bridges came up with the game-winning steal to secure the 1-0 series lead over the rival Celtics.
The Knicks have made it clear that the clutch gene has spread to their entire roster, and it’s culminated in stealing home court from Boston. Now, they’ll have the opportunity to take a commanding 2-0 lead tonight (7 ET, TNT) before heading to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4.
