New York Knicks leave Boston Celtics on brink, Golden State Warriors facing exit

NEW YORK – Jalen Brunson scored 39 points as the New York Knicks “kept fighting” to push the Boston Celtics to the brink of elimination from the play-offs on May 12, while the Golden State Warriors were also left facing an early exit after a damaging defeat by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In New York, Brunson spearheaded a sensational second-half rally as the Knicks overturned a 14-point third-quarter deficit before surging to a 121-113 win that gives the third seeds a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven National Basketball Association Eastern Conference semi-final series.

“They hit us early and obviously we got into a hole,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I love the way we fought back and we showed a lot of toughness and more discipline in the second half and timely plays. Everybody worked together on both ends of the floor.”

In the Western Conference, the Timberwolves took a similar 3-1 stranglehold in their series against the Warriors with a commanding 117-110 road victory in San Francisco.

Boston’s hopes of hauling themselves back into their series suffered a devastating blow in the shape of a serious injury to Jayson Tatum, who looked distraught as he was carried off the hardwood in the fourth quarter.

Tatum, who had been magnificent up to that point with a 42-point display, was later seen being ferried to the Madison Square Garden locker room in a wheelchair.

As the Celtics digested defeat and the brutal Tatum injury blow, the Knicks were left celebrating and eyeing a place in the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000.

“Just found a way to make plays and get us going,” Brunson said of the second-half revival that set up the Knicks win.

“I was just in a flow and doing whatever. I wasn’t really trying to take over. It was just ‘whatever we’ve gotta do’,” Brunson told ESPN.

“We didn’t quit, kept fighting. And that’s what’s most important. Whenever you get in a hole, you can’t quit.”

Boston started the game where they had left off in a convincing Game 3 victory on May 10, with Tatum and Payton Pritchard swiftly finding their range from outside the arc.

A Derrick White three-pointer gave Boston their biggest lead of the night early in the third quarter, the point guard putting the Celtics 14 points up at 72-58.

But just when it looked as if Boston were threatening to pull away, the Knicks flicked the switch at both ends of the court to kick-start a dramatic rally.

Brunson poured in 18 points as the Knicks outscored Boston 37-23 in the third quarter and take an 88-85 lead into the final frame.

Brunson kept the points flowing in the fourth quarter, and when O.G. Anunoby grabbed a steal off Tatum in the incident that left the Celtics star writhing in pain before making a dunk, the Knicks were home and dry at 118-106 with less than two minutes remaining.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Tatum would undergo a scan on May 13 to determine the extent and nature of what he described as a “lower body injury”.

“He’ll get the MRI tomorrow and we’ll see what it is,” said Mazzulla, whose team will host Game 5 in Boston on May 14. AFP, REUTERS