TORONTO — Maybe we should have known that Jalen Brunson, as much as any player, would know how to lead his team in a tournament after guiding his Villanova teams to NCAA titles twice during his college days.
“There has to be a level of urgency,” Brunson said earlier. “This isn’t a series. It’s a one-game series. This is win or go home, so you’ve got to be ready to go. There’s no easy win to this. So there has to be a level of urgency.”
Brunson took over the game from the very start Tuesday night, scoring the first points of the game and not stopping until he poured in 20 of his game-high 35 points in the opening quarter, leading the Knicks to a 117-101 win over the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena and earning a trip to the semifinals of the NBA Cup.
The Cup brings a payday for players and some coaches, a number that rises with every round. It also gives the Knicks a chance to earn a title, even if it is in-season rather than the banner the team has been chasing for more than 50 years.
“Jalen did what he was supposed to do,” Mike Brown said. “He bailed us out offensively in that first quarter. And so we were able to score with them and keep it close because Jalen had a big first quarter. Which obviously he’s more than capable of doing. That’s just who he is when you’re talking about an MVP candidate of the league. And then after that first quarter, everybody on our team just started to get aggressive.”
The Knicks were the only team to have reached at least the quarterfinals in each of the first three seasons of the NBA Cup — but had yet to get past this round until Tuesday night. Now they head home for a brief rest before flying to Las Vegas, where they will face the Orlando Magic on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.
The Knicks enter the Cup semis as hot as any team outside of Oklahoma City, winning four straight and eight of their last nine. The Knicks have lost two of three to Orlando this season, but did just beat them Sunday and the Magic are without Franz Wagner, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the game.
The Knicks and Raptors have had history — whether it is the trade that swung the fortunes of the Knicks two years ago, sending RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto (both were sidelined for this game) for a package centered around OG Anunoby, or the lawsuit the Knicks filed and recently had dismissed for what they claimed was proprietary information theft.
But on the floor, it just seemed like a mismatch after the first quarter. Josh Hart chipped in a season-best 21 points, shooting 8-for-11, including 4-for-7 from three. Karl-Anthony Towns, listed as questionable until just before game time after sitting out Sunday with calf soreness, added 14 points and 16 rebounds. Brunson shot 13-for-19, including 6-for-9 on three-pointers.
The Knicks took the game over in the second quarter, building a 17-point halftime lead. And out of the locker room at halftime, they were not going to let this chance get away, quickly upping the lead to 24 points. Toronto managed to close within 14 and seemed to fight off the Knicks’ efforts to put it out of reach. But when Anunoby drained a wide-open three with 4:45 left, fans began streaming for the exits.
The Knicks didn’t miss a shot for nearly four minutes to start the game, but still found themselves tied when they finally misfired thanks to a pair of turnovers and Toronto’s makeshift lineup matching their output.
And then just 4:37 in, Towns went to the bench with his second foul.
The Knicks’ offense still was productive with Brunson on fire. He connected on 7 of 9 from the floor for 20 points, but on the other end, the Knicks could not find a way to slow down the shorthanded Raptors. Brandon Ingram had 17 of his 31 points points and Toronto took a 39-35 lead after one.
“Ball was going through the hoop,” Brunson said. “They went on a run and I was just trying to keep us in it. They came out with a lot of energy. Just happy to be down just four at that point.”
The Knicks made up ground with Brunson on the bench, building a 47-41 lead. And when he returned, he continued what he was up to, hitting his first two shots while Towns also chipped in, driving and dunking over a pair of Raptors defenders.
Toronto finally tried to just get the ball out of Brunson’s hands, sending two defenders at him. But he willingly got off the ball and the rest of the Knicks were basically running practice four-on-three drills, upping the lead to 69-52 at halftime.
“It’s something that they just started two years ago. Third year, right?” Mitchell Robinson said of the NBA Cup. “Yeah, I mean it’s new, so of course we want to see how it is, get the experience of it. They also got a country concert [at the Sphere in Vegas], so I can go to that — Zac Brown.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks said that there was no update yet on Deuce McBride’s sprained left ankle. He had an MRI on Monday, but no length of time sidelined has been announced.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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