NBA

Knicks battle but fall in season-ending Game 6 loss to Heat

MIAMI — Jalen Brunson had a superb season, from the start until the bitter end, but the Knicks’ other top players couldn’t do nearly enough Friday night to help him keep that season alive.

Brunson followed up his 48-minute masterpiece from two nights earlier with 41 points in 45 minutes, but the Knicks received little production from Julius Randle and RJ Barrett in a crushing, season-ending 96-92 loss to the Heat in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at Kaseya Center.

“You’ve got to give [the Heat] a lot of credit. They didn’t play like an eight seed, at all,” Brunson said. “For me, we did a lot of great things this season. We obviously want the team to keep playing, to have the opportunity.

“It stings a little bit, definitely a learning experience. But if you don’t win, you lose.”

Aside from Brunson, who finished 14-for-22 from the field, the other four Knicks starters shot a combined 15.6 percent (5-for-32).

That shoddy statistic included 20 of 24 misses by Randle (15 points) and Barrett (11) as the Knicks fell to 0-15 in their history when trailing 3-1 in a best-of-seven playoff series.

Jalen Brunson’s 41 points weren’t enough for the Knicks in Game 6. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
Bam Adebayo slams home a dunk during the Knicks’ season-ending loss to the Heat. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post

“Obviously disappointed. Wanted more. Expected more. … Eventually I’ll go back in the offseason, look at the film and see how we can help J out,” Randle, who was 3-for-14 in Game 6 and shot 37.4 percent in 10 postseason games, said.

“I played terrible. I’m very disappointed in how I played today,” added Barrett, who was 1-for-10 from the field, but 9-for-10 from the free throw line. “I don’t know, just, it’s a lot right now. You fight for something; you want something so bad and then I personally did not — I don’t feel like I played my best.


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“It hurts, but it’s good to have experiences like these. You can learn from them. They’re a very good team, very experienced, very poised. So you can learn from that.”

Jimmy Butler scored 24 points and Bam Adebayo had 23 points with nine rebounds in another dominant inside performance for the Heat. Miami will face the winner of a conference semifinal Game 7 on Sunday between the Celtics and the 76ers next week in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Even after Brunson’s arrival last summer via free agency, oddsmakers had the Knicks with an over-under win total of 38 coming into the season. They finished the 82-game slate with a record of 47-35, their second-most victories over the past 22 seasons. They then thrashed 2022 summertime target Donovan Mitchell and the fourth-seeded Cavaliers in five games in the opening round to advance for the first time since 2013.

Jalen Brunson drives around Jimmy Butler during the Knicks’ loss. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
RJ Barrett looks to make a pass over the Heat’s swarming defense during the Knicks’ loss. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post

“Proud of our guys. There’s always disappointment in the end of the season,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “In the end, there will be one team standing. Take what we learned from it. Get away for a little while, decompress. But I’m proud of the way this team worked all year. I thought they improved daily.

“I thought we got valuable experience in the playoffs, we learned a lot, and [have] to use what we learned to move forward.”

The Knicks were down by one early in the fourth quarter, but an Adebayo jumper and a 3-pointer by Max Strus (14 points) gave Miami a 82-76 lead with under seven minutes to play.

Jalen Brunson reacts during the Knicks’ loss to the Heat in Game 6. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
Kevin Love celebrates during the second half of the Heat’s Game 6 win. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post

Brunson’s fifth 3-pointer in 10 attempts got the Knicks within three with 3:17 remaining, but Butler sank a jumper and Strus hit one free throw for a 90-84 lead.

Mitchell Robinson sank two free throws for his only points of the game, but Adebayo’s slam at the other end made it a six-point game again with 1:05 to go.

Still, the Knicks were not done. After Brunson got raked across the face by Gabe Vincent for a Flagrant 1 foul with 59.5 seconds remaining, he sank both technical free throws to cut the Heat lead to 92-88, and the Knicks also maintained the ball.

Jalen Brunson and the Knicks exit the court following their Game 6 loss. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post

Brunson drove and found Josh Hart slicing to the basket to trim the deficit to two.

After a defensive stop, however, Brunson turned the ball over on a bad pass and was called for a subsequent offensive foul. Butler nailed both free throws with 14.4 seconds remaining for a 94-90 Miami lead.

“To me, when you lose in the end, there’s disappointment, that’s normal,” Thibodeau said. “But when you take a step back and you look at it in totality, which we will do, we’ll examine the things we did well, the things we didn’t do as well as we would have liked, we’ll formulate a plan to move forward and get focused there so we can get better.

“The aspect of the disappointment, yeah we’d still like to be playing, that’s why we do it. If you’re a competitive person, that’s what you want. And we fell short and there’s disappointment, but I think to look at it to say, OK, we learned a lot, let’s look at this as motivation, let’s get better, and that’s what you have to do.”