NEW YORK After missing time due to a right foot injury, Jalen Brunson made up 24 of his 29 points in the second half on Wednesday night, helping the New York Knicks defeat the Indiana Pacers 130-121 to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
When Brunson emerged to warm up at halftime, having missed the entire second quarter as the Pacers jumped out to a double-digit lead, the Madison Square Garden crowd went into a frenzy, echoing Willis Reed’s dramatic exit from the locker room prior to Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, which led the Knicks to their first championship.
Though he was unable to become the second player in NBA history to score forty points or more in five consecutive playoff games, he provided the Knicks with all the tools they required to advance to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 2000.
