How did the New York Knicks devil, did it start it again? After scoring 13 lean points in the first quarter and having lagged behind 20 in the third, they organized a racing of 21-4 in fourth to steal their second consecutive victory on the road against the Boston Celtics in the title of champion.
What is this witchcraft? If Tom Thibodeau throws spells on the Celtics from the touch, making it twice in a row seems a little greedy.
“I can't really explain it,” said Knicks star Jalen Brunson, to journalists after the 91-90 victory in match 2, “but we just have to trust when we cross stretching like that, then continue to fight, continue to believe.”
Josh Hart de New York said the team was “very comfortable” at the end of the tight matches because “we have Captain Clutch”. He referred to Brunson, the clutch player of the year, who was sitting next to him on the podium and immediately shook the head of his teammate.
Brunson had a few characteristic clutch moments on the section: a Fadeaway with a leg on Jrue Holidays de Midragan, a right-up lay-up on Al Horford in transition, winning free throws. If there is a fourth quarter piece that illustrates how the Knicks increased 2-0, however, it is the one Mikal Bridges did several minutes before all this.
Leaving a dead time halfway through the final frame, Bridges made a peak-and-roll with Mitchell Robinson who gave no advantage. He went down from the ball, then recovered it from Brunson and entered another peak-and-roll with Robinson with six seconds to the chronometer. He started his journey before Robinson had the chance to define a screen, so Holiday, one of the best defenders in the League, had no trouble staying with him. It seemed that possession did not go anywhere, but the bridges took a vacation with a hesitation, turned the corner downhill and, using its wingspan of 7 feet 1 inch, launched a tapered reverse lay-up on the outstretched arms of Luke Kornet. It came out of the glass and inside.
This bucket reduced the advance to 10 points. He did not win in New York the game more than Jayson Tatum missed a training shot in the area with about four minutes to play or the bad spacing of Boston on the final possession. It will certainly not be as memorable as the bridges Propose a flight on this final possession (for the Second consecutive match). But because he just stuck with the whole shooting stopwatch, the game was a return microcosm, and all We-Volon What the Knicks have during these playoffs. (In their first round series against the Pistons de Detroit, they made a 21-0 race in the fourth quarter to win the first match, erased a deficit of 11 points in the fourth quarter to win match 4 and dragged seven points with two and a half minutes to play in the clincher.)
At the end of the third quarter, Bridges had recorded 31 minutes without scoring a point. He had missed the eight blows he had taken: a few layups, some of Midragan, an uprising and an open rope 3. New York started the fourth with Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench, so the team needed him to be aggressive. About a minute later, Bridges set up a Middy on Payton Pritchard and finally saw the ball go through the net.
Shortly after, Bridges pushed the ball after a manufactured basket, made a Nash dribble On the basic line and found itself open to a short rider. He cashed this, and a few minutes later, conceded a traction 2 during the holidays. There were also a few transitions 3, but these, those created by the bridges, are exactly the type that, late in an eliminatory match, a guy who had missed his first eight shots will not necessarily seek.
Bridges Tell to journalists That his teammates helped him remain positive, just like Thibodeau writing a room for him at the start of the fourth. “I feel like I was mentally strong enough, but it was bringing me a little, lacking photos,” he said. “It really doesn't make the shots affect We. I'm trying to win the match, and I will not help us. “When the buzzer struck, Bridges collected 14 points on shot 6 for 18, seven rebounds, five assists and three interceptions in 43 minutes. Neither he nor Brunson had an impressive night of shooting, but the ineffectiveness is not relevant now.
Cities called bridges one of the Nba the most clutch defenders in the NBA. It is “only fair,” journalists told Towns that bridges have shown its value “when the lights are the brightest”. For Brunson, it is a thing of bridges that dates back to the practice and preparation of games in Villanova: “He just has the capacity to block the noise.” But it is also a Knicks thing.
“No matter what's going on, we're going to be a team together,” said Brunson. “And we are going to have the back of the other despite everything. No matter what a single person or goes through us collectively.”
