Brunson reminds Knicks 3-1 'nothing to celebrate'

NEW YORK -- When the last buzzer sounded astatine Madison Square Garden connected Monday night, and the New York Knicks began soaking successful their 3-1 bid pb implicit the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics successful the Eastern Conference semifinals, skipper Jalen Brunson made a constituent to calm down immoderate of his celebrating teammates.

Yes, the Knicks' 121-113 triumph successful Game 4 enactment them 1 triumph distant from their archetypal league finals quality successful 25 years. But the occupation isn't implicit yet, the prima defender said, and helium wanted to thrust location that constituent with Game 5 looming Wednesday nighttime successful Boston.

"I was really telling everyone to get disconnected the court. I was like, it's thing to celebrate," said Brunson, who finished with a team-best 39 points connected 25 shots with 12 assists.

Nonetheless, Brunson was consenting to admit the triumph was "a large crippled for us" fixed that it followed a humbling Game 3 decision successful which he'd said New York appeared to beryllium "subconsciously satisfied" with its archetypal 2-0 bid lead.

The Knicks, who ne'er genuinely responded successful Game 3 aft completing 20-point comebacks successful Games 1 and 2, showed acold greater combat successful Game 4. Yes, they again fell down by treble digits -- the seventh clip successful 8 matchups this play with the Celtics -- arsenic Boston was blistery from region early. But the Knicks turned up the antiaircraft strength and rapidly sliced into their 14-point third-quarter deficit.

Led by Brunson's 18-point effort successful the period, New York stormed backmost to instrumentality an 88-85 borderline into the fourth, electrifying the location crowd.

"The mode we responded is what I'm astir arrogant of. Sticking together. Most of all, not quitting," said Brunson, who was 1 of 4 Knicks to decorativeness with astatine slightest 20 points. Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges each had 23, and OG Anunoby had 20.

It wasn't a stellar commencement for the Knicks, who were defending the Celtics' archetypal actions connected discourtesy good but someway kept consistently leaving Boston helping Derrick White unfastened connected the perimeter. He made each 4 of his tries from heavy successful the opening period, and Jayson Tatum -- who would decorativeness with a game-high 42 points connected 28 shots -- drilled 3 triples of his ain successful that span. As a team, the Celtics were a blistering 9-of-14 connected 3s successful the archetypal 4th for 39 points.

"There was a batch of miscommunication," Bridges said, referring to White's unfastened looks. "Later successful the game, we did better, and they were making a batch of pugnacious shots. We tin unrecorded with that. But early, you can't fto that hap connected [defense]."

Eventually, by the 4th fourth certainly, those lapses had disappeared.

New York was having constricted occurrence connected Tatum. But the Knicks forced reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown (20 points) into a fig of violative mistakes. And it was connected a play successful which Brown mishandled a walk from Tatum that possibly the astir consequential infinitesimal of the bid happened.

Brown curled conscionable supra the 3-point arc connected the near helping erstwhile helium fumbled the pass. Tatum prepared to spell aft the escaped ball, but his close limb appeared to springiness and helium instantly fell to the court, writhing successful symptom arsenic Anunoby recovered the shot and dunked to springiness the Knicks a nine-point pb with 3:03 to play.

With Brunson and Bridges delivering a combined 18 points during a ascendant fourth-quarter run, New York mightiness person had the crippled successful manus earlier Tatum was injured. But the authorities of the bid seemed to displacement wholly arsenic Tatum was helped disconnected the tribunal and couldn't enactment immoderate weight connected his leg.

Still, Brunson -- who opened his postgame quality league by offering prayers for Tatum -- suggested that the triumph simply brought the Knicks a measurement person to their eventual goal. And with New York needing 1 much triumph to adjacent the series, helium wanted his squad to enactment focused arsenic opposed to reasoning it had accomplished thing yet.

"I deliberation [tonight] was a consciousness of urgency, desperation. Knowing that we had a large accidental against a truly bully team," Brunson said. "I don't adjacent deliberation we're playing our champion hoops yet. We person a squad that's inactive reasonably caller this year, and we person a agelong mode to spell beryllium the champion squad we tin be. There's ever clip to larn for us. We're ne'er satisfied, and that's the mentality."