"He is 185 centimeters tall. Still, his athletic ability is not explosive. He is always good, though. This is the story of New York Knicks ace Jaren Brunson (27). Brunson summoned Michael Jordan, the legendary player, and gave his team its first win in the playoff semifinals (best of four out of seven games).
Brunson defeated the Indiana Pacers 121-117 in the first round of the 2023-2024 NBA Eastern Conference PO semifinals held at Madison Square Garden in New York on Tuesday, and successfully gained the upper hand. The second round between the two teams will take place at the same venue on Tuesday.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who is notorious for minimizing bench membership and changing the playing time and physical strength of key players, used only eight players, including five starting players. Kevin Hart (24 points, 13 rebounds) played full-time for 48 minutes without even a second break. Indiana scored a whopping 46 points on the bench on the day, while the Knicks scored just four points.
Nevertheless, the five starting pitchers had incredible productivity, so they played equally. Brunson's performance was particularly impressive. Brunson recorded 43 points, six assists, and six rebounds while playing for 44 minutes. He threw four three-point shots and made only one, but his field goal success rate reached 53.8 percent, and he also garnered 14 free throws, displaying concentration by scoring all of them.
The Knicks, who struggled with 9 points in the early fourth quarter, then had a fierce chase after Brunson and Donte DiVinchenjo (25 points, 5 three-point shots) scored. Then, Brunson hit a 3-pointer 4 minutes and 4 seconds before the end of the game, which was being dragged to 104-109, cut the gap to 2 points, and with 3:24 left in the end, he put in both of his foul free throws to tie the game at 109-109. Since then, Brunson has made three consecutive free throws with 12.1 seconds left to make it 121-117.
Brunson previously scored 40 points in four consecutive games from Game 5 of the first round of the PO against the Philadelphia 76ers. Brunson is the fourth player to score 40 points in four consecutive playoff games, and Michael Jordan, the last player to reach the mark before Brunson, recorded four consecutive games from Game 2 to Game 5 of the championship game against the Phoenix Suns in the 1992-93 season.
BY: 토토사이트