Jalen Brunson made two free throws in 12.7 seconds to lift the New York Knicks to a 91-90 victory with hosts Boston Celtics, leading 2-0 in the Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Boston had the opportunity to recover in the final seconds of Wednesday, but Mikal Bridges knocked out the ball from Jason Tatum, and it was owned by New York.
Josh Hart scored a game-high 23 points in New York, earning 20 points in the third quarter and 16 points in fourth place. The Knicks received 21 points and 17 rebounds from the town of Karl Anthony. The Bridges scored 14 points. All in the fourth quarter.
Branson, who finished with 17 points and a high seven assists in the game, said of his decisive foul shot:
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said: “We started slowly, went into a big hole and dug up, then played a lot of tough plays.
Derrick White and Jalen Brown each scored 20 points for the Celtics.
“They played what they needed to win,” Boston manager Joe Matzla said of the Knicks. “We put ourselves to do it and we just didn’t play (stretch down).
“You need to look at it, figure out where you need to get better and get it all done for 48 minutes. Understand that’s hard. But that’s why we do what we do.
Game 3 of the Top 7 Series will take place in New York on Saturday.
New York took their first lead with a Branson layup, making it 87-86 at 1:59. Another Branson layup pulled the Celtics within one point with two Tatum free throws in 44.9 seconds before closing off a 21-2 run that extended the New York lead to three points.
Boston took a 90-89 lead with a Tatum Dunk in 18.5 seconds, but Branson knocked down two free throws on subsequent possessions.
Tatum, who averaged 26.8 points per game during the regular season, was held to 13 points, but grabbed 14 rebounds.
Boston also scored eight points from the bench of Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis did not play in the second half of Game 1 due to illness. Porzingis played 14 minutes in Game 2.
The Celtics played without Sam Hauser, who suffered an ankle injury in the third quarter of Game 1.
Boston led 24-13 after a quarter on Wednesday, leading 50-41 at halftime. The Celtics rose by age 16 before the Knicks finished the second quarter with an 11-4 run. Tatum was held to two points in the first half.
The Celtics extended their lead to 70-50 with the remaining Porzingis dunks at 4:05 in third place, but New York scored the final eight points of the quarter, cutting Boston’s lead, with 73-61 in the final frame.
Boston was once again hampered by a poor three-point shooting. The Celtics were 10 of 40 (25%) from the three-point range on Wednesday after wasting a 20-point lead with 15 of 60 (25%) in overtime losses on Monday.
“The way the game progresses is that the team can make up the ground much faster by shooting three people,” Thibodeau said. “For the writers around us, they always think that every lead is safe, but that’s not the case. Everything is important.”
Thunder Route Nuggets in Game 2
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points and led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Denver Nuggets’ 149-106 home blowout in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semi-Final Series on Wednesday.
The Thunder, who set the franchise’s single-game playoff scoring record, tied the top 7 series 1-1 at the landing of Game 3 in Denver on Friday.
“We knew what was in danger tonight,” Gilgaus Alexander said. “We came out desperately.”
After losing with a 3-pointer in the end of Game 1, the Thunder confirmed that the Nuggets had no chance to pull away another slow Shocker. Oklahoma City poured it out early, scoring 45 first quarter points, extending its lead to just 24, over 10 minutes of the game.
Thunder tied the NBA playoff records with half points at 87, leading by up to 35 people before the break. The only team to score 87 points in half during the postseason was the Milwaukee Bucks in the second half of the 1978 second round game against the Nuggets.
“Tonight we didn’t see tonight as a response as much as we saw us as us and just us. That’s how we were all season.” “We really don’t respond to the last game. When we win, we don’t have any more confidence. When we lose, we don’t have any more urgency.”
Denver’s current NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Nikola Jokic scored 42 points in Game 1, limited to 17 points and was fouled out of the game in the third quarter.
