By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 33 points and sealed the game with big buckets late to the delight of roaring Knicks fans, leading New York to a 108-94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night for a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.
Brunson shook off a 2-of-8 start from the floor and finished 11 of 22 in 38 minutes to send the Knicks to their sixth straight postseason victory.
“I’m Linus. Jalen’s my blanket,” first-year Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “He helps me relax at a lot of different times during the course of the game.”
With 2016 and 2018 Villanova national championship banners hanging in the rafters, the so-called Nova Knicks all took turns taking the fight out of the Sixers in the fourth quarter, turning a four-point lead into another double-digit victory.
Josh Hart had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Mikal Bridges added 23 points, pushing the Knicks within one victory of their second straight conference finals appearance.
When Brown took the job after Tom Thibodeau was fired, the veteran coach said he wouldn’t know what kind of team he really had until he got “into the trenches with them.”
Brown now sees the makings of a championship team. “Yeah, OK, we might have a chance at this,” he said.
The Knicks have the luxury not to rush back forward OG Anunoby, who’s averaging 21.4 points per game in the postseason. He sat out with a strained right hamstring and remains day to day.
Joel Embiid scored 18 points for the Sixers in his return after he missed Game 2 with a sprained right ankle and a sore right hip.
“I thought he gave us everything he could,” coach Nick Nurse said.
Embiid’s return from an appendectomy helped spur the Sixers’ rally from a 3-1 deficit in the opening round to stun the Celtics.
Beating the Knicks four straight times — including twice in New York — seems like a much harder hill to climb for Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers.
Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 22 points and Maxey added 17. Paul George scored 15 points in the first quarter, then went scoreless and missed all nine shots the rest of the game as the Sixers blew a 12-point lead.
George and Maxey each failed to shoot a single free throw. The 76ers went 13 of 16 from the line while the Knicks made 23 of 32.
Meanwhile, Victor Wembanyama delivered another masterpiece with 39 points, 15 rebounds and more game-wrecking defense for the San Antonio Spurs, who took a 2-1 lead in the second-round NBA playoff series with a 115-108 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Wembanyama went 13 of 18 from the floor and 10 of 12 from the line, adding five blocks and a full night of paint deterrence as the Spurs won their second straight game after dropping the opener at home.
“It was like holding the ship together. We had a lead. We didn’t need to rush. We needed to be consistent,” Wembanyama said.
De’Aaron Fox scored 17 points, and Stephon Castle had 13 points and 12 assists with a team-high plus-17 rating.
Anthony Edwards had 32 points and 14 rebounds and Naz Reid added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves, whose defense kept them alive after a woeful start but allowed the Spurs to shoot 6 for 10 from 3-point range in the pivotal third quarter.
Minnesota will host Game 4 on Sunday night. The series shifts back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday.
