Knicks cool off Butler, Heat, force a Game 6
Jalen Brunson had 38 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists while playing all 48 minutes in a season-extending performance, and the Knicks beat the Heat, 112-103, at New York Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Knicks denied the Heat’s first attempt to become just the second No. 8 seed to reach the conference finals and sent the series back to Miami for Game 6 Friday night.
RJ Barrett added 26 points and Julius Randle had 24 for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who stayed alive in hopes of reaching the conference finals for the first time since 2000. They did that by getting by the Heat in seven games in the second round, a possibility that still exists.
The Knicks built a 19-point lead in the third quarter, then hung on when the Heat finally got their 3-pointers to start falling and cut it to 2 with 2½ minutes remaining.
Jimmy Butler had 19 points, 9 assists, and 7 rebounds for the Heat, getting held below 25 points for the first time this postseason. Bam Adebayo added 18 points and Duncan Robinson had 17.
The 1999 Knicks, for now, remain the only No. 8 to get to a conference finals in the current playoff format that began in 1984. They got all the way to the NBA Finals after upsetting the top-seeded Heat in the first round.
The Heat used a pair of huge quarter-opening runs — 18-2 to begin the second and 23-7 in the third — to build a 73-54 lead midway through the third quarter. The Heat got it all the way down to 103-101 before Isaiah Hartenstein — in the game because the Heat were intentionally fouling starting center Mitchell Robinson — slammed home a follow dunk to start
New York’s finishing kick.
Quentin Grimes also went all 48 minutes for the Knicks, finishing with 8 points.
Embiid tops All-NBA
Denver’s Nikola Jokic now knows how Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid felt during two previous NBA award seasons.
Second in the MVP race — but only second-team All-NBA.
Embiid — the newly crowned MVP — headlined the All-NBA team unveiled Wednesday night. He was the first-team center, while Jokic was the second-team pick at that position. It was a reversal of the results from 2021 and 2022, when Jokic was MVP over Embiid, who then had to settle for the second-team All-NBA center spot.
And this should be the final time such a quirk happens. Starting next year, the All-NBA team will no longer be broken down by position — meaning the presumed second-best player in the NBA one season, such as Embiid in 2021 and 2022 and Jokic now, will not have to be relegated to second-team anything.
Joining Embiid on the first team were the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo at forward, and Dallas’s Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous Alexander at guard.
On the second team along with Jokic were Miami’s Jimmy Butler and the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown at forward, and Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell at guard.
The third team center was Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, with the Lakers’ LeBron James — now a 19-time selection, extending his record — and New York’s Julius Randle getting the forward spots and Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox and Portland’s Damian Lillard the guard selections.
Omitted this year after making it last year: first-teamer Devin Booker; second-teamers Ja Morant, Kevin Durant ,and DeMar DeRozan; and third-teamers Karl-Anthony Towns, Chris Paul, Trae Young, and Pascal Siakam.
James is a 13-time firstteam, three-time second-team, and now three-time third-team pick. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were all 15-time selections, tied for the second-most in NBA history.
The picks were made by a panel of 100 reporters and broadcasters.
Antetokounmpo was the only unanimous selection this season as a first-teamer. Tatum got 92 first-team votes, Embiid got 87, Gilgeous-Alexander got 63, and Doncic got 60.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Mitchell, Brown, Sabonis, and Fox all made All-NBA for the first time. Embiid was first team for the first time, while Butler made the second team for the first time after four appearances on the third team.
The league has utilized the current format of picking three All-NBA teams, by position — two guards, two forwards, one center on each — since 1989. From 1956 through 1988, there were two teams picked by position; from 1947 through 1955 there were two teams picked, but with no regard for position.
Krzyzewski to advise
Mike Krzyzewski is coming out of retirement and heading to the NBA — as an adviser, not a coach.
The league said Krzyzewski, the Hall of Famer and all-time men’s college Division 1 coaching wins leader, is its new special adviser to basketball operations.