Jalen Brunson did not need OG Anunoby. He did not really need Carl-Anthony Towns, who battled foul trouble all night. The New York Knicks' star guard dropped 33 points on 11-of-22 shooting with nine assists in a 108-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals — a result that pushes the Knicks to a 3-0 series lead and leaves Philadelphia staring at a deficit no NBA team has ever come back from.
The game itself was tight in stretches. The Sixers cut it to four points in the fourth quarter on a Quentin Grimes three with 8:54 to play, the kind of shot that often cracks a road series open. Instead, New York responded with a 13-2 run over the next four minutes, outscoring Philadelphia's bench 25-0 down the stretch — a number that captures the entire night's gap better than any individual stat line.
CBS Sports analyst Noah Buono framed the night as the moment the series stopped being a series.
"It impressed me top to bottom that they were able to do this without OG Anunoby," Buono said on CBS Sports HQ. "He has to me been one of, if not, their best players so far in this postseason. So the fact that they were able to get this done without him, the fact that they were able to work around Karl-Anthony Towns' foul trouble tonight — especially in that third quarter when Philly started going into the hack-a-Mitchell Robinson — and Mitch did a good job knocking a few down. Philly was flirting with this nine-point deficit, this five-point deficit, and the Knicks just kept finding answers."
The inability of Philadelphia's stars to support Joel Embiid was the quiet story of the night. Paul George, the player most often brought in for these specific moments, stopped scoring after the first quarter.
"Paul George didn't have any points past the first quarter," Buono noted. "He was 0-for-9 for the remainder of the game. Tyrese Maxey, I thought, could have changed the complexion of the game had he taken advantage of some of his different spots where he was getting the ball. There was one in transition early in the fourth quarter — he could have ripped a quick between and driven it to the right side of the floor. There was no help on the baseline. Instead, he opted to wait for the defence to get set, then hit the hole and missed a layup. He was a little hesitant, and really all those things compounded and played in the favour of the New York Knicks."
Mike Bridges, traded to New York at significant cost in 2024, finally produced the kind of supporting line his contract was built around — 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting. "This is exactly the way he needed to step up," Buono said of Bridges. "This is what they need out of Mikal Bridges. He had some moments last year when they took down Boston where he was really pivotal. Tonight was a nice coming-out party."
Landry Shamet, off the bench, hit for 15 points and was the human embodiment of the bench-depth gap that has decided the series. "There's been a lot of moments where you wonder, on the Knicks bench, is their depth going to come from Josh Alvarado, Landry Shamet, Jordan Clarkson?" Buono said. "Tonight it was Shamet's night. The most concerning thing now that this series is 0-3 — and you hate that you didn't win this game if you're Philly — is the Philadelphia bench was outscored at the eleven-minute mark of the fourth quarter 25 to nothing in favour of the Knicks bench. That just can't happen."
New York has now tied its longest win streak in playoff history, equalling its 1999 run that ended in the Finals. The Knicks are one win away from a second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearance — and with Anunoby trending toward a return as the series potentially closes, Buono made the case that the team's ceiling is climbing.
"If you can bring both him back healthy and Mikal Bridges humming like this offensively the way he was tonight, all of a sudden you're looking at four lethal options on the New York Knicks offence," Buono said. "They're going to be even scarier than what they've been. The Knicks have looked like one of, if not, the best team this postseason — especially when you factor in how kind of shaky the Oklahoma City Thunder have looked with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's play, them not looking like their regular season form even though they've blown the Lakers out."
Game 4 in Philadelphia is essentially a referendum on whether the Sixers want to mail the rest of their season in. Brunson's 33-point night, by then, will already be ancient history. The Knicks are one win away.
