The Knicks were buried.
Jalen Brunson had just missed his sixth consecutive shot, and the crowd, buzzing all evening, had fallen silent.
Dead silent.
Their Game 2 opportunity had come and gone. The curtain was coming down.
And then the miracle happened.
“Reggie Miller moment,” Clyde Frazier said afterwards in the hallways of MSG. “It’s all destiny, man. All destiny.”
In a hectic and thrilling span of 14 seconds, the Knicks turned a five-point deficit into a one-point advantage, riding that crazy wave to a 104-101 victory over the Sixers at MSG and a commanding 2-0 series lead.
The big shot came from Donte DiVincenzo, whose trey with 13.1 seconds left gave the Knicks the one-point lead.
But the sequence requires a full accounting:
Playing poorly all evening, Jalen Brunson finally connected on a 3-pointer — his first of the fourth quarter after six consecutive misses — to cut the lead to 2 with 27 seconds left.
His shot required a lucky bounce off the rim.
Off Philly’s inbounds, Josh Hart, a hero of Game 2, stripped Tyrese Maxey, who fell helplessly to the court.
It found DiVincenzo, who missed a 3-pointer, which led to a clutch offensive rebound from Isaiah Hartenstein.
The ball then went from Hartenstein to OG Anunoby to DiVincenzo for the biggest Knicks shot in years.
“Find a way,” Brunson said.
“It was loud as hell in there,” DiVincenzo added. “Honestly, after I missed the first one I was really, really, really hoping that Isaiah got [the rebound] because I knew the rotation of everything I was going to get a second look. Thank God he got the offensive rebound.”
Still, the Knicks needed a couple more big plays to ensure a celebration — and Hartenstein obliged with a strong contest on Tyrese Maxey’s missed potential go-ahead layup with 7.6 seconds left.
Anunoby iced the win from the foul line.
When the dust settled, the Knicks outscored the Sixers, 8-0, in the final 27 seconds.
“There’s been some pretty wild finishes but that was right up there with the best of them,” Tom Thibodeau said. “That just shows you what the playoffs are all about. And oftentimes, it’s a hustle play here, a hustle play there, just find a way to win. Tonight we made some big shots, big hustle plays, getting on the floor, coming up with a steal, coming up with a block, made free throws. We did it all.
“I never think the games are over,” the coach added. “And it shows you, you can make up ground very quickly. A 3 goes in, you get a steal, you get another 3, they miss a couple — and next thing you know, the game changes. And that’s how quick it can change. And you need good fortune. Sometimes the ball bounces your way, and we had a couple that bounced around the rim and went in so that’s part of it, too.”
The Knicks got away with another bad game from Brunson.
He followed his Game 1 dud with a Game 2 clunker, shooting 8 for 29 overall — leaving him 16 for 57 in the series.
But his teammates picked up the slack, most notably his former Villanova teammates Hart (21 points) and DiVincenzo (19).
The Sixers, meanwhile, got plenty from their stars, even if they clamped up in the final seconds. Joel Embiid and Maxey were listed as questionable on the injury report before the game.
And both looked fine.
Maxey, who had an illness, went off for 35 points and 10 assists. He took over in the fourth quarter, outdueling Brunson until those fateful final 27 seconds.
Embiid, who has been touch-and-go with his knee-surgery recovery, dropped 34 points and 11.
Up against those numbers, the Knicks still triumphed. They came back for their curtain call.
“I don’t think our confidence ever wavered,” DiVincenzo said.
