Brunson reminds Knicks 3-1 'nothing to celebrate'

NEW YORK -- When the final buzzer sounded at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, and the New York Knicks began soaking in their 3-1 lead over the reigning champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, captain Jalen Brunson made a point to calm some of his celebrating teammates down.

Yes, the Knicks were victorious, 121-113, in a pivotal Game 4 that put them one win away from their first conference finals appearance in 25 years. But the job isn't complete yet, the star guard said, and he wanted to drive that point home with Game 5 looming Wednesday night in Boston.

"I was actually telling everyone to get off the court. I was like, it's nothing to celebrate," said Brunson, who finished with a team-best 39 points and 12 assists on 25 shot attempts.

Nonetheless, Brunson was willing to acknowledge the win was "a big game for us" given that it followed a humbling Game 3 defeat in which he'd said New York appeared to be "subconsciously satisfied" with its initial 2-0 series lead.

The Knicks, who never truly responded in Game 3 after completing 20-point comebacks in Games 1 and 2, showed far greater fight in Game 4. Yes, they again fell behind by double digits -- the seventh time in eight matchups this season the Celtics have pounced on the Knicks in that fashion -- as Boston caught fire from distance early on. But the Knicks turned up the defensive intensity and quickly sliced into their 14-point third-quarter deficit.

Led by Brunson's 18-point effort in the frame, New York stormed back to take an 88-85 edge into the fourth, electrifying the home crowd.

"The way we responded is what I'm most proud of. Sticking together. Most of all, not quitting," said Brunson, who was one of four Knicks to finish with at least 20 points. Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges each had 23, while OG Anunoby had 20.

It wasn't a stellar start for the Knicks, who were defending the Celtics' initial actions well but somehow kept consistently leaving Boston wing Derrick White open from outside. He hit all four of his tries from deep in the opening period, while Jayson Tatum -- who'd finish with a game-high 42 points on just 28 shots -- drilled three triples of his own over that span. As a team, the Celtics were a blistering 9-of-14 from outside in the first quarter, and notched 39 points in total.

"There was a lot of miscommunication," Bridges said, referring to White's repeated open looks early. "Later in the game, we did better, and they were making a lot of tough shots. We can live with that. But early, you can't let that happen on [defense]."

Eventually, by the fourth quarter certainly, those lapses disappeared.

New York was having limited success on Tatum, who seemingly couldn't miss. But the Knicks forced reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown (20 points) into a number of offensive mistakes throughout the game. And it was on a play where Brown mishandled a pass from Tatum that perhaps the most consequential moment of the series took place.

Brown curled just above the 3-point arc on the left wing when he dropped the offering from Tatum. Tatum prepared to go after the loose ball, but his leg appeared to give as he did so, immediately falling to the ground and writhing in pain as Anunoby recovered the ball and dunked to give the Knicks a nine-point lead with just under three minutes to play.

With Brunson and Bridges delivering a combined 18 points during a dominant fourth-quarter run, New York may have had the game in hand prior to Tatum going down. But the state of the series seemed to shift entirely as he was helped off the floor and failed to put any weight on his lower right leg.

Still, Brunson -- who opened his news conference by saying he wanted to offer prayers for Tatum -- suggested that the win simply brought the Knicks a step closer to their ultimate goal. And with New York needing one more victory to close the series, he wants his team to stay focused on that, as opposed to thinking it has accomplished anything yet.

"I think [tonight] was a sense of urgency, desperation. Knowing that we had a great opportunity against a really good team," Brunson said. "I don't even think we're playing our best basketball yet. We have a team that's still fairly new this year, and we have a long way to go be the best team we can be. There's always time to learn for us. We're never satisfied, and that's the mentality."