Jalen Brunson scored 38 points on Wednesday as the New York Knicks held off the Miami Heat 112-103 to push their NBA Eastern Conference semi-final series to a sixth game.
Miami, who were looking to put the series away at Madison Square Garden, whittled a 19-point third-quarter deficit to two with 2 minutes, 37 seconds remaining, but the Knicks held on to pull within 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
“You’ve got to give them credit, that’s a hard team to play, but we just came out to fight,” Brunson told broadcaster TNT after playing all 48 minutes.
Photo: AFP
“We didn’t get discouraged with the 10-point deficit in the first quarter, we just kept fighting,” said Brunson, who added nine rebounds and seven assists.
R.J. Barrett scored 26 points and Julius Randle shrugged off an early blow to the eye to add 24 for the Knicks.
“Protect home,” Adebayo said of the Heat’s Game 6 mission today. “At this point that’s the biggest thing for us.”
Photo: AP
It was close in the early going, but after Quentin Grimes’ three-pointer put the Knicks up 10-8 midway through the first quarter, the Heat closed the period on a 16-4 run to lead 24-14.
The Knicks hit back and they traded the lead in the second quarter.
With less than a minute remaining before halftime, Miami star Jimmy Butler soared to block Brunson’s layup, then raced down the floor. His layup missed, but Bam Adebayo grabbed the rebound and slammed home a dunk that put Miami up 47-46.
Randle tied it with a free throw and with 1.3 seconds remaining drained a step-back three-pointer that sent the Knicks into the break with a 50-47 lead.
The Knicks kept the pressure on in the third, pushing the lead to 19 with 5 minutes, 55 second left in the period.
Miami, finally getting their three-point shots to fall, cut that to 10 going into the fourth, and Butler’s pull-up basket, followed by his free throw on the Heat’s next possession, had Miami just two down with 2 minutes, 37 seconds left.
New York’s Isaiah Hartenstein answered with a dunk and with the Knicks up by six, Grimes — hobbling after a fall — came up with a steal from Butler and the Knicks held on.
Butler led the Heat with 19 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. Adebayo added 18 points and Duncan Robinson scored 17 off the bench for Miami, who are trying to become just the second eighth-seeded team — after the 1999 Knicks — to reach the conference finals.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis injured his head in what appeared to be an inadvertent hit by Golden State’s Kevon Looney midway through the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 121-106 Game 5 victory in the Western Conference semi-finals.
Davis grabbed at his head grimacing on the bench before going to the locker room following the play with 7 minutes, 43 seconds remaining.
He and Looney were battling for positioning in the paint on a driving layup by the Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell.
Davis’ status for Game 6 today in Los Angeles was unclear, but coach Darvin Ham was encouraged afterward without providing details on what evaluation — such as concussion testing — the big man went through once in the locker room.
TNT reported that Davis required a wheelchair to reach the locker room.
Another good sign was Davis walking out of Chase Center on his own.
“Obviously, everyone saw he took a shot to the head, but we just checked in on him, he seems to be doing really good already,” Ham said. “That’s just where he’s at. That’s the status of it right now.”
The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series 3-2.
Additional reporting by AP
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