Knicks survive Jalen Brunson's early injury scare to beat Pacers in Game 2, take 2-0 series lead
This time it was halftime, a new tunnel from the locker room, but with a hushed Madison Square Garden on pins and needles, the team down 10 points, and there was no need of a public address announcer or a broadcaster. Jalen Brunson was the first player to emerge and the 19,812 fans at the Garden made the moment, chants of, “MVP,” raining down as he cautiously took a series of free throws before dribbling and testing a right foot injury that had sidelined him for the final 15:32 of the first half and putting a questionable to return label on him.
While in the back, his father, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, and team president Leon Rose joined him as he tested his foot. On the court, satisfied, he went to Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau and let him know that he was ready to go, taking off his warmup shirt and joining the team on the floor to start the third quarter. And if this wasn’t Reed, the effect was the same with a jolt of energy sparking through the Garden crowd and through his teammates. But more than just energy, Brunson did what he always does — scoring 24 of his 29 points after halftime and lifting the Knicks to a 130-121 Game 2 win for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.
“I had a decision to make and I made a decision,” said Brunson, who couldn’t pinpoint exactly what happened. "Just making sure I could move and see how I felt and go from there. I think once I went on the court I was going to give it a go, no matter what.”
“Yeah, a lot of toughness,” Thibodeau said. “I think the makeup, that’s his makeup but that’s also the makeup of our team.”
The Knicks have taken the mantra of, “Next man up,” to extremes and it continued on this night as they lost OG Anunoby, who had carried them much of the night with 28 points, to a left hamstring strain in the third quarter. But as long as the main man was back the Knicks were, too. Help came from all corners as Josh Hart, playing 48 minutes for the second straight game, had 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Donte DiVincenzo scored 28 points.
Hart joked as Brunson walked through the locker room, “All right, Willis,” which Brunson just shook his head at when asked about it.
“He’s a great leader,” Thibodeau said. “Players all have respect for that, when a guy is willing to give whatever he has. Look at what Josh has given us, you have great respect for that, says a lot. To me, the actions speak a lot more than the words.”
"He’s a warrior,” DiVincenzo said. “That’s all I got. There was no doubt in our minds that he’ll be back. All season long no matter what is thrown at him, injury bug or whatever, he always bounces back. We knew the severity of the game so we had confidence he was coming back.”
With Brunson back in the game, the tone and result changed almost immediately. The Knicks cut the lead quickly to five before Brunson scored. But he then slithered through the Indiana defense, scoring a layup and getting a foul for a three-point play to close the gap two. One play later the score was tied, just 4:15 into the half. Another stop and an Anunoby three-pointer and the Knicks were in front. Josh Hart then found Donte DiVincenzo cutting for a basket and it was a 14-0 run, 21-6 since the half began, sending the Pacers scrambling for a timeout.
The Knicks were rolling, pushing the lead with Anunoby blocking an Andrew Nembhard drive and finishing with a dunk on the other end on a pretty feed from Brunson, and then a DiVincenzo layup after an Anunoby miss making it 90-81. But on the miss, Anunoby came up limping, hobbling to the locker room grasping at his left hamstring.
The lead was just one when Brunson found Hart for a three and a 105-101 lead and the teams were trading baskets with the Knicks desperately hanging onto the lead. A DiVincenzo three gave the Knicks a five-point lead and when Brunson missed a three on the next trip, DiVincenzo ran down the rebound and slipped a pass to Precious Achiuwa for a dunk and a 117-110 lead with 3:38 remaining.
Tyrese Haliburton drained a three out of the timeout, but Hartenstein answered with a pair of free throws and Brunson buried a tough turnaround jumper to push the lead to eight.
DiVincenzo delivered again, a three-pointer with 1:33 to play and the lead was up to 124-115 — their biggest lead since the opening minutes. After a three by Aaron Nesmith closed the gap to six, a double-dribble was whistled in the backcourt on Hartenstein, but after conferring it was called an inadvertent whistle.
With the ball back, the Knicks missed but Hartenstein dove across the floor for the loose ball, giving them another chance. And this time, it was, as expected, Brunson who delivered the dagger, weaving through traffic and dropping in a feathery 10-footer for a 126-118 lead with 41.7 seconds to play. A technical foul was called on Pacers coach Rick Carlisle and Brunson added the free throw for a nine-point lead. Carlisle got another tech shortly after that and was ejected.
“I'm always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials,” Carlisle said. “But we just . . . we deserve a fair shot, and it's just not. Small market teams deserve an equal shot. They deserve a fair shot, no matter where they're playing.”
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.
