Knicks outlast 76ers at MSG to take 2-0 series lead in Eastern Conference semifinals

Throughout the last four Knicks playoff games, as one blowout after another was piled on and placed into the record books, there was an ominous tone to the Knicks talk, well aware that one day that they would face a much tougher test, a game where the smallest details would matter.

That game arrived Wednesday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals as the Knicks found themselves embroiled in a nail biter at Madison Square Garden where the daily cries for whatever end of the bench player the fans might want to see were replaced by pleas of, “De-fense.”

And in the end, it was those details, a stifling fourth quarter defensive effort, and the usual late-game clutch scoring of Jalen Brunson, that delivered a 108-102 win to give the Knicks a two games to none lead as the series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 Friday night.

“I think we were just focused on getting stops,” Josh Hart said. “Getting stops and when you have guys like [Brunson] and [Karl-Anthony Towns], obviously Mikal [Bridges] hit big shots in the fourth...when you have guys that like offensively you know they’re going to be able to get to their spots and they’re going to knock down shots, so it was like, ‘let’s go out there and get stops and finish our rebounds.’”

For much of the game the drama was created with all of the storylines taking turns. Joel Embiid sitting out Game 2 at Madison Square Garden. Karl-Anthony Towns struggling with foul trouble. Tyrese Maxey trying to race through the Knicks defense to pull off an upset.

This was nothing like Game 1 when the Knicks dominated and won by 39 or anything like the four-game stretch in which the Knicks had set records for the largest postseason margin of victory over that span.

Instead, the game began to echo Game 2 from two years ago when the Knicks scrambled their way through the final seconds to put it out on a Donte DiVincenzo three that seems to still reverberate through the Garden. The Knicks were struggling to find their way all night, unable to take advantage of the absence of Embiid and fighting to avoid seeing Philadelphia steal away the homecourt advantage.

The 25 lead changes in the game are the most in any playoff game in 11 years and the biggest question still remains as the Knicks did not clarify the status of OG Anunoby, who asked out of the game in the final minutes and immediately limped to the bench and headed to the trainer’s room.

After a slow start, by the end of the night Brunson had scored 26 points, including six of the Knicks' last eight points. Anunoby contributed 24 points while Towns had 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Bridges added 18 points. Maxey led Philadelphia with 26 points and VJ Edgecombe chipped in 17 while Paul George and Kelly Oubre had 19 each.

It took a defensive stand — or at least cold shooting from Philadelphia as they repeatedly misfired on open three-point attempts. Philadelphia shot just 4-for-19 in the final quarter — 1-for-10 from three — as the Knicks escaped with the win.

“The shot is not always gonna go in, and you gotta give Philly’s defense some credit, just like you gotta give our defense some credit,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “But we know we missed some shots that we normally make and they missed some shots that they normally make. So, it’s about trying to figure out a way to get a stop. That’s what you can control more than the ball going in, and I thought our guys did a decent job of that as we were going down the stretch without fouling.”

With 5:06 left in the game, Brunson put the Knicks in front with an elbow jumper. Then again, with 3:45 left, he delivered, isolating at the top of the key and draining a jumper for a four-point lead, 103-99. Again, Brunson served as the closer with the Knicks clinging to a five-point lead with 1:06 remaining, Brunson drove into the lane, drawing a foul and draining a pair of free throws.

“I think we made things difficult,” Brunson said of the fourth-quarter defense. “Also, I think they missed some good looks, so we got away with a couple. We just found some stops down the stretch when we needed to and created a five, six-point cushion, then just kind of kept that.”

Early Wednesday afternoon, the Sixers announced that Joel Embiid would not play — sitting out with what the team called a right ankle sprain and right hip soreness. While that seemed to provide an advantage for the Knicks, eliminating the former MVP from the mix, the Knicks lost an important big man, too, when Mitchell Robinson popped up on the injury report at 5 p.m. with an illness and was ruled out shortly before game time.

While Embiid may be more important to the Sixers than Robinson is to the Knicks, on this night it was Robinson’s absence that came into play early as Towns was called for a pair of first-quarter fouls, exiting the game with 4:29 left in the period. Ariel Hukporti was called into duty and promptly was called for three fouls in less than four minutes — sent to the bench with 46.7 seconds left in the quarter with Jeremy Sochan finishing the quarter at center.

Towns started the second quarter, but just 46 seconds into the period was called for his third foul and went to the bench — not playing again in the half. In the third quarter, Towns seemed to finally take advantage of the mismatches without Embiid, scoring 11 points on 3-of-3 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the line, along with three assists, orchestrating the offense and drawing two fouls on both Drummond and Bona in the stretch. But then Towns was called for his fourth foul and exited with the Knicks up, 80-79, with 4:31 left in the period

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

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.