Jalen Brunson was emotional after a night which saw him being voted a first-time All-Star before leading the New York Knicks to a comeback win.
The Knicks overcame the loss of two starters again to rally for their ninth straight NBA victory, 109-105 over the Indiana Pacers, with Brunson pouring in 40 points hours after getting his All-Star nod.
Brunson scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help win a game in which the Knicks had trailed by 15 points.
He shook off an eye injury late in the game and made a driving layup with 1:46 remaining to give the Knicks the lead for good on Thursday.
Donte DiVincenzo added 20 points, Miles McBride had 16 off the bench and Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 12 points and 19 rebounds for New York, which was again without starters Julius Randle and OG Anunoby, with Mitchell Robinson and Quentin Grimes also out.
The Knicks, coming off a 14-2 January, have won nine in a row for the first time since a 13-game run in 2013 and moved to within a half-game of the Milwaukee Bucks for second place in the Eastern Conference standings before they host the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.
But this night was about Brunson, who continued his spectacular season and was serenaded with MVP chants at Madison Square Garden.
"It was really cool, the whole experience, the night, how we won and obviously what happened before the game," said Brunson.
"You always work for certain moments, but you never know how to react when they happen.
"So it was special. When the game's going, you're focused and when it's over you kind of relax and realize what's going on.
"It's definitely different at that point. So, really thankful for the fans and what they've done for myself, my family and this team."
Brunson’s exploits meant the Pacers had a three-game winning streak snapped despite Jalen Smith scoring 22 points and Aaron Nesmith having 17.
Asked about Brunson’s growth, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said: "It's surreal. Each step of the way, there's always been naysayers, and he always proves them wrong.
"You just love his competitiveness and he never goes away."
DiVincenzo is getting used to praising Brunson in his post-game interviews, smiling to reporters that he was not sure what else he could say.
"He did exactly what everybody expects him to do and what he has been doing all season long," added DiVincenzo.
"The dude is an All-Star. He's having an MVP-caliber season right now. He should be the player of the month this month.
"What else can I say? The dude's doing everything he possibly can for us to win games. It's not easy right now with Julius going down, OG going down, Mitch not being here.
"Everything's been thrown against us and he's still willing us to win games."
While the Knicks have a day to prepare for their big clash with the Lakers, Indiana (27-22) is straight back in action at home against the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
NBA: Nuggets, Pacers win to even series
Nikola Jokić scored 16 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter as the Denver Nuggets held off the Minnesota TImberwolves to earn a critical 115-107 win in Sunday's Game 4 of a Western Conference semifinal series.
Aaron Gordon also provided the Nuggets a huge lift by amassing 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting as the reigning NBA champions evened the series at 2-2. Jamal Murray added 19 points, 12 of which came in the third quarter, to help Denver to its second straight victory in Minnesota after the TImberwolves won Games 1 and 2 on the road.
The best-of-seven series will return to Denver for Tuesday's pivotal Game 5.
Denver also overcame another superb performance from Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, who put up a play-off career-high 44 points for his third 40-point effort in this post-season.
Edwards' All-Star teammate Karl-Anthony Towns struggled, however, as he was held to 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds.
The Nuggets never trailed after taking a 23-22 lead on Gordon's three-point play with 2:39 left in the first quarter. They led 29-24 after one period, then scored the final eight points of the first half to own a 64-49 advantage at intermission.
Murray capped the opening half by draining a 3-point shot from half-court as the buzzer sounded.
Denver's lead swelled to as many as 18 points early in the third quarter, but the Timberwolves gradually chipped away and cut their deficit to 111-104 when Edwards followed teammate Jaden McDaniels' 3-pointer with a running layup with 1:41 left to play.
Minnesota didn't make another basket the rest of the way, though, and Jokic sealed the outcome by scoring off a Gordon feed out of a timeout with 25.8 seconds remaining to make the score 115-107.
Pacers clamp down on Knicks to even series
The Eastern Conference now has a series all even at two games apiece as well after the Indiana Pacers came through with a dominant 121-89 Game 4 rout of the New York Knicks.
Tyrese Haliburton led a balanced Indiana scoring attack with 20 points, but it was the Pacers' defence that provided the biggest reason why the series is now all tied as it heads back to New York for Tuesday's Game 5.
The Knicks shot a meagre 18.9 per cent (7 for 37) from 3-point range, their lowest accuracy rate in a play-off game since 2000, and 33.7 per cent overall in by far their most lopsided defeat of this post-season. Star guard Jalen Brunson, who entered the contest averaging a league-leading 34.6 points per game in the post-season, was held to 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting.
T.J. McConnell added 15 points and 10 assists for Indiana, which immediately assumed control by opening the game on a 19-6 run and shooting 60.9 per cent in the first quarter.
New York, on the other hand, went 6 of 23 from the field in the opening period and trailed 34-14 entering the second.
The Pacers continued to dominate in the second quarter, building a lead as large as 30 points and taking a commanding 69-41 advantage into the break. Five Pacers scored in double figures in the first half, led by Haliburton's 13 points.
New York failed to mount a challenge in the second half as well, as the Pacers extended the margin to 101-63 after three quarters and led by as many as 43 points in the fourth.
Alec Burks finished with 20 points to lead the Knicks, who played without defensive stopper OG Anunoby for a second straight game due to a left hamstring injury he sustained in Game 2.
Hawks win NBA Draft lottery for first time despite three per cent odds
The Atlanta Hawks surprisingly won the NBA Draft lottery for the first time Sunday, giving the franchise the top overall selection for the first time in 49 years.
Atlanta had just a three per cent chance to win the lottery after going 36-46 this season and finishing in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks’ campaign ended with a 131-116 road loss to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Play-In Tournament on April 17.
“It’s a significant part of any team building strategies, so this is exciting,” Atlanta general manager Landry Field said Sunday.
Atlanta had never won the Draft lottery and will be picking first for the first time since selecting David Thompson in 1975.
Thompson, however, went on to sign with the Denver Nuggets when they were part of the American Basketball Association.
“It’s been a while,” Fields said. “That turned out a little differently than hopefully what we’ll be expecting here for the future.
“But excited about this (draft) class, excited about continuing to build what we got going in Atlanta.”
The Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards each had the best odds to win the lottery at 14 per cent, followed by the Charlotte Hornets (13.3), Portland Trial Blazers (13.2) and San Antonio Spurs (10.5).
Washington will instead pick at No. 2 followed by Houston, San Antonio and Detroit.
The Spurs selected NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 overall pick last June.
This year’s draft will be held June 26-27 in Brooklyn.
'We're not here to play around' - Brown praises Celtics reaction
Jaylen Brown praised the Boston Celtics for proving to themselves they are "not here to play around" in their 106-93 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3.
The Celtics' win on Saturday edged them into a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals after losing Game 2 with a defensive performance Brown described as "unacceptable".
At Cleveland, they bounced back - Jayson Tatum had 33 points and 12 rebounds, while Brown added 28 points as the Celtics avoided a second consecutive defeat.
"I think we just need everybody to be on the same page and everybody to come out with the right effort," Brown said.
"That's 85% of the battle right there. We come out, we play hard, and then we're on the same page and the rest will take care of itself. We got enough talent in the locker room to beat teams.
"But if we're not on the same page, and we're not playing hard, those are when we get ourselves in trouble. So making sure, before the game at film and shootaround, talking to everybody, touching everybody, letting everybody know that 'Hey, we're not here to play around.'
"We didn't come to Cleveland for the weather, so let's go.
"It's the playoffs. Anything can happen, especially if you come out flat. We've got to do a better job of that, we can't think like this series is going to go like last series.
"We've got to come out and have the same defensive effort going into Game 4 and that's just the urgency we need to have."
Donovan Mitchell starred for Cleveland, scoring 33 points, but was forced off late in the game due to a knee injury, and despite showing signs of a comeback, they could not find any answers in the fourth quarter.
"I just think we didn't hit the same shots we did [in Game 2]," Mitchell said.
"For us, just being able to finish. We missed a lot of shots at the rim, myself included, missed a lot of shots that I think we just got to make. And also, we didn't really shoot that great from 3, but not a bad per cent, but we didn't shoot that well.
"So I think those are different things, and we got to get our looks and take them, because if we don't, we're driving back into the crowd, and they want us to. So being able to take our shots when they're open."
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