Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Jalen Brunson scored 40 points as the New York Knicks clinched a series victory over the Detroit Pistons while the Los Angeles Clippers downed the Denver Nuggets to set up a titanic NBA playoff decider on Thursday. Brunson drained a game-winning three-pointer with four seconds remaining to give the Knicks a thrilling 116-113 win over the Pistons and seal a 4-2 series triumph.
In the Western Conference, the Clippers beat the Nuggets 111-105 at the Intuit Dome to level their series 3-3 and force a decisive game seven in Denver on Saturday. James Harden led the way for the Clippers with 28 points while Kawhi Leonard finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists as Los Angeles bounced back from Tuesday’s 131-115 game-five drubbing in Denver.
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In Detroit, the Pistons had also looked poised to level their best-of-seven series with the Knicks after fighting back from 11 points down to lead 112-105 with just under three minutes remaining. But an extraordinary late rally spearheaded by Brunson saw the Knicks claw their way back into the contest to tie at 113-113 with 36 seconds left on the clock. Detroit star Cade Cunningham missed a layup to restore the Pistons’ lead, and that set the stage for an ice-cold three-pointer from Brunson to give the Knicks what turned out to be the winning lead.
“I stay poised and I rely on the trust and the composure that my team-mates give me,” Brunson said. “None of this happens without them.” The third-seeded Knicks advance to an Eastern Conference semi-final series against the Boston Celtics, the reigning NBA champions, with game one set for Monday. Brunson finished with 40 points, four rebounds, and seven assists, with Mikal Bridges scoring 25 points and OG Anunoby adding 22. “Jalen’s shot, what can you say?” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of Brunson’s game-winning three. “He’s at his best when his best is needed, and he’s done it all year. That’s what makes him special.”
Cunningham led Detroit’s scorers with 23 points, backed by 21 from Jalen Duren and 20 from Malik Beasley.
– ‘Win or go home’ – A see-saw first half saw the Knicks romp into a 14-point lead after the opening quarter, outscoring the Pistons 37-23 thanks to 15 points in the opening frame from Brunson. But Detroit came roaring back in the second quarter, with the hot hand of Beasley draining five-of-eight three-point attempts to haul the Pistons back into contention and into a slender lead at half-time.
The Knicks came out for the second half with renewed focus, the defense locking in to halt the flow of Detroit points while at the other end Brunson and Bridges combined for 21 points to build a double-digit lead. The momentum shifted once more in the fourth quarter as Detroit fought back against a Knicks team who suddenly looked out of ideas as the Pistons surged into the lead, before Brunson rescued New York at the end.
In Los Angeles, a fired-up Clippers held off a late charge from Denver to secure their series-leveling win. A nip-and-tuck contest hinged on a huge third quarter by the Clippers, who outscored Denver 32-22 to open up a double-digit lead which stretched to 15 points with just under six minutes remaining. Denver rallied to cut the gap to just five points with less than a minute remaining, but the Clippers held firm to set up Saturday’s decider.
“It was win or go home — and we didn’t want to go home,” Clippers star Harden said. “We’ve got one more game in a couple of days. We’ve got to be better. Still a lot of mental mistakes, still a lot of execution that we can get better at. But we’ve got to go out there and take it.” Denver interim head coach David Adelman pinpointed the third quarter as the moment the game swung away from his team.
“We got sped up, we didn’t handle it — we played defense but we never could come up with the 50-50 ball. That quarter absolutely killed us,” Adelman said. “We played a really good fourth quarter, but we’ve got to be better throughout the whole game.” Nikola Jokic led Denver with 25 points while Jamal Murray finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists.
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