Jalen Brunson’s been here time and time again: game on the line with the ball in his hands.
This time, it was with an opportunity to put the Philadelphia 76ers away and punch the Knicks’ ticket to their second consecutive second-round playoff appearance with a victory in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Brunson had the ball with less than 30 seconds to go in regulation, isolated against Philadelphia’s 6-foot-8 defensive stopper, Nicolas Batum.
He sized-up Batum from the right wing, hesitated, then side-stepped out behind the three-point line for a shot he’s made all season.
Only this time, the ball didn’t leave his hands in the direction of the basket. Batum’s lanky wingspan recovered in time for a hard contest on Brunson’s jump shot.
Instead of shooting the ball, Brunson changed course in mid-air and passed the ball in the direction of Isaiah Hartenstein, who had already left his post in the right corner to crash the glass, attempting to rebound off Brunson’s potential miss.
The ball made it neither to the rim nor Hartenstein.
Instead, it bounced out of bounds. Brunson buried his head in his hands.
In the blink of an eye, the game had been decided.
The Knicks and 76ers went to overtime courtesy of Tyrese Maxey’s 35-foot game-tying three at the end of regulation, and despite Brunson scoring the first five points of the final period, the Sixers came out on top with a 112-106 victory to keep their season alive.
As a result, this series has been extended at least to Game 6 at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.
The Knicks lead the first-round series, 3-2, after Tuesday’s loss, but they blew a grand opportunity to seal the deal in front of their own fans — something they hadn’t done since the Knicks’ 1999 playoff run that ended with a trip to the NBA Finals.
Maxey turned in a generational 46-point performance on 17-of-30 shooting from the field and 7-of-12 shooting from three-point range. He also finished with nine assists, using his superior speed for force the Knick defense to collapse, then whipping the ball oftentimes to an open shooter.
Joel Embiid, who was questionable ahead of tipoff due to a migraine, finished with a triple double (19 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists and four blocks), but shot just 7-of-19 from the field and 1-of-4 from three-point range.
The Knicks got 40 points from Brunson, who shot 15-of-32 from the field and 4-of-11 from three-point range but turned the ball over on a pivotal late-game possession.
There will be more basketball, and another trip to Philly for a Knicks team that split Games 3 and 4 on the road earlier in the series.
Starting forward Josh Hart shot 7-of-17 from the field for 17 points but cooled off from three-point range in a one-of-six shooting performance. OG Anunoby added 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and Miles McBride added 14 points off the bench.
The Knicks led, 96-90, with 28.9 seconds left in regulation.
Then Maxey drained back-to-back threes, the first of which resulted in a four-point play.
The Sixers intentionally fouled Hart on the following possession, but he missed the first of two free throws, leaving the door open for Maxey’s game-tying heroics at the end of regulation.
The Knicks now face the unenviable task of closing the series in hostile territory, in front of the rowdy 76ers fan base sure to be motivated after Knicks fans infiltrated Philadelphia in Games 3 and 4.
If they lose Game 6, a decisive Game 7 will be played on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.