Following a devastating Game Four loss to put the Knicks down in the series 3-1, Jalen Brunson and New York responded to force a Game Six in Miami. Brunson played the entire game with the potential elimination on the line, as New York won 112-103.
Brunson Carries The Knicks
Although this series against the Heat has been difficult so far, Brunson has more than done his part. Coming into this game, he has yet to score under 20 points in any game these playoffs. And in Game Five, with New York one loss away from elimination, Brunson had the best playoff game of his young career in New York.
Brunson scored 38 points on an efficient 12-22 from the field, 4-10 from three, and 10-12 from the free throw line. He also had nine rebounds and seven assists all while only committing one turnover. To make this performance even more impressive, Brunson played all 48 minutes.
Being down 3-1 in a series can change the way star players perform. For Brunson, he never seemed phased by the potential of being eliminated. He played with the same poise that he has all season long, as no matter what was sent his way defensively, he dissected it and routinely made the right decision.
Outside of Brunson, many of his teammates stepped up their game in this potential elimination stage. Shockingly, Quentin Grimes also played the entire 48 minutes in Game Five. Against this Heat defense that is clearly trying to clog the paint as much as possible, Grimes presents an important role as he is probably the best spot up shooter this New York team has. He did not exactly light it up from three (2-6) but he certainly provides more space for Brunson and Randle to operate.
Grimes really made an impact this game defensively. For the majority of his minutes, Grimes matched up against Jimmy Butler and did better than any defender has all postseason long. Butler was held to 19 points and only attempted 12 shots. Grimes forced Butler to become much more of a passer, and made it so that someone other than Butler had to beat the Knicks.
RJ Barrett continued his high level of play this playoffs with 26 points on 8-17 from the field, 3-8 from three and 7-8 from the free throw line. Randle bounced back after his rough game four with 24 points on 7-13 from the field, 4-7 from three and 6-10 from the free throw line.
Free throws were an enormous part of the New York offensive attack as they got to the line a whopping 40 times and hit 29 of them. New York was far more aggressive this game as compared to game four and in doing so made the Heat's job defensively much harder.
Can The Knicks Sustain This Type Of Win?
Even with the win, there were still a lot of areas that the Knicks will have to improve upon for a Game Seven to become a possibility. The most glaring of these issues come from the turnovers. In Game Four, the 16 turnovers absolutely killed New York offensively. However, in Game Five, New York actually had more turnovers (18). Randle, Barrett and Grimes each had four turnovers in Game Five.
One of the results of these turnovers was an enormous discrepancy in shot attempts. The Knicks only attempted 71 shots compared to 88 by the Heat. Another explainer for this discrepancy is the sheer amount of free throws New York shot, however 18 turnovers will certainly cost any team shot attempts throughout a game.
The whopping number of free throw attempts also seems difficult to sustain in a Game Six. There is no doubt that the Heat will make it a point of emphasis to force the Knicks to beat them from the field, not the free throw line. New York will still get to the line as they have multiple players capable of drawing fouls, however they must be ready to make more field goals come Game Six.
The Knicks will get their chance to push Miami to a Game Seven Friday night back in Miami.
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