NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson scored 26 points and helped New York seize control of a close game after a run of blowouts, leading the Knicks to a 108-102 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Playing without the injured Joel Embiid, the 76ers put up a far better fight than in the Knicks’ 137-98 romp in Game 1. The game featured 25 lead changes — the most in a playoff game in 11 years — and 14 ties. Neither team led by more than seven points.
“Most importantly, it’s staying poised, staying composed,” Brunson said. “Just figuring out one just play at a time, one step at a time and not looking too far ahead.”
Those kinds of situations are made for Brunson, who made the tiebreaking basket with 5:06 remaining and added another jumper for a 103-99 advantage with 3:45 to play before Mikal Bridges‘ basket made it a six-point game.
“They started switching a little bit and he got to his spots and scored a bucket and that’s what he’s expected to do for us,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said of Brunson.
OG Anunoby added 24 points for New York, though he left late in the game, went to the locker room and didn’t return to the bench. Brown said after the game he didn’t have an update on the forward’s status.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Knicks, whose Game 1 victory made them the first team to win three straight postseason games by at least 25 points.
Tyrese Maxey scored 26 points for the 76ers, who face another big climb after falling behind 3-1 against Boston in the first round.
The series moves to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday, where Embiid will find out if gets his wish for the arena to be filled with Sixers fans or if New Yorkers make their way in.
Embiid was ruled out with right hip and ankle injuries after waking up with soreness and being unable to go through the 76ers’ morning shootaround.
But the 76ers, who won Game 2 in Boston without him while he was still recovering from a late-season appendectomy, got 19 points each from Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. and 17 from VJ Edgecombe to nearly overcome their big man’s absence.
They were ahead for the final time at 99-96 after Oubre’s 3-pointer before Josh Hart — who had appeared to hurt his left hand or wrist in the third quarter and left the game — made a 3-pointer with 6:52 remaining.
“I thought we had maybe four wide-open shots in a row that didn’t go,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “We just needed to keep the scoreboard moving and we played great offense. We just didn’t shotmake.”
The 25 lead changes were the most since the Spurs and Clippers combined for 31 on May 2, 2015.
Maxey managed only 13 points in Game 1 but was back to leaving defenders in the dust Wednesday, scoring 15 points in the second quarter and 19 in the first half.
The Knicks did a better job on him in the second half, led by Bridges, who also contributed 18 points.
