Category: Basketball

Jalen Brunson was mostly brilliant for the first 47 minutes of Game 1.

He had 37 points on 15-for-22 shooting. His layup with 59 seconds to play gave New York a nine-point lead over the Indiana Pacers.

And then things deteriorated – quickly. There were plenty of defensive mistakes in the final six minutes on Wednesday night. There were missed free throws. Missed opportunities to rebound the ball.

But maybe more than anything else, the strangest part of the Knicks' collapse was Bunson’s role in it.

He had three turnovers in the final 5:30 of the game.

Brunson also made his free throws late and came up with a big basket in overtime. And he didn’t let Obi Toppin free for a put-back dunk in overtime; he didn’t fail to foul Toppin on one of Indiana’s final possessions.

He didn’t lose Andrew Nembhard as a cutter on a key play late in overtime.

But Brunson didn’t close the game cleanly. He’s been so good late in games that you expect him to be perfect in these situations. He was far from perfect on Wednesday.

Now, the Knicks will face the biggest test of their resolve to date on Friday night. They face a Pacers team that is brimming with confidence heading into Game 2. The Knicks have done well in challenging spots throughout these playoffs. But they haven’t faced a challenge like this yet.

Late Wednesday night, there was an understated confidence from the Knicks as they talked about the awful Game 1 loss and what lies ahead.

“The series just started. Just one game, just watch the film, learn from it and go from there,” OG Anunoby said.

“I feel like defensively we let off the gas, intensity and physically weren’t there,” Josh Hart said. “Offensively we were playing slower, a little stagnant. And looked like we were playing not to lose. We got to make sure we don’t make that mistake again.”

They’ll have another chance on Friday night at the Garden. All of a sudden, Game 2 is a must-win for the Knicks. If they make the same mistakes then that we saw in the important moments of Game 1, this Knicks season will end in disappointment.

The Knicks survived Jalen Brunson, the NBA’s best crunchtime player, being sent to the bench with foul trouble at the start of the fourth quarter to build a 17-point lead in the first four minutes without him.

It was the largest lead they held over the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. New York took a few shots back from the visitors, but the advantage was back to 14 points with under three minutes to play.

The win probability for the Knicks at that point: 99.7 percent.

In the final 160 seconds of regulation, the game was tied. After the five minutes of overtime, which began with the Knicks taking a four-point lead, the Pacers' comeback was complete in the form of a 138-135 gut-punch for the home fans.

“We didn’t close the game out,” Josh Hart said. “I feel like our intensity dropped, we started playing slower, playing more into their hands. We let that one slip.”

“They can score the ball,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You just can never let your guard down against them. No lead is safe.”

From there, the Knicks went 2-for-4 from the floor and 2-for-4 from the free-throw line while committing one turnover. The Pacers got hot: Aaron Nesmith made four consecutive threes and two free throws, Pascal Siakam went 1-for-2 at the line, all to put them in positon for Tyrese Haliburton, thanks to a very kind back iron, made the longest possible two-point shot with a toe on the line to send the game to overtime capping a 20-6 run.

After making the shot, Haliburton, emulating Reggie Miller, covered his throat. It would be in overtime when the Pacers finally went at the Knicks' throat, converting on 6-for-11 from the floor, and capping the comeback.

“The playoffs, when you win, it’s the best thing ever. When you lose, it’s the worst thing ever,” said Brunson, who finished with a game-high 43 points but was a minus-8 in 38 minutes.

Asked how he felt after scoring 20 points with five made threes in the fourth quarter, Nesmith said, “It’s unreal, it’s probably the best feeling in the world to me. I love it when that basket feels like an ocean, and anything you toss up, you feel like it's gonna go in. It's just so much fun.”

How was the Pacers guard able to get hot from behind the arc late in crunch time? “Got too much airspace,” the head coach said. “And some of it is transition, some of it is coming off pindowns, some of it is communication. Want to take a look at the film.”

Hart pointed the finger at a “lack of communication” in defending a guy who entered the night shooting 48.2 percent from three in 10 playoff games (up from his season average of 43.1 percent).

“Defensively, we let off the gas, the intensity and physicality wasn’t there,” Hart said, adding that on offense it “looked like we were playing not to lose.”

"We didn't do what we needed to do," Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 35 points and 12 rebounds and was the lone Knicks starter to have a positive plus-minus (nine) in 39 minutes, said.

Turnovers bite the hosts all night, including in overtime when the Knicks committed four of them. For the game, the total was 15, with Indiana profiting from them to the tune of 27 points. 

“The turnovers were costly and they converted them into easy buckets,” Thibodeau said. “They started off the game in a good rhythm and then we did a much better as the half went on. And then, down the stretch, we didn’t do what we needed to do.”

This story was almost a different one.

Thibodeau was asked about deciding to start the fourth quarter with Brunson in the game despite his four fouls, and he didn’t elaborate beyond saying it was a “coach’s decision.” 

And, who could blame the Knicks’ top man on the bench for sticking with his closer at the start of crunchtime with his team up by just three in a game the Knicks led for long stretches but never truly pulled away? 

While Brunson scored the quarter’s first four points for New York, he lasted just 1:55 before he was relegated to the bench with the lead down to two. 

The Knicks picked up their leader by going on a 14-0 run over the next 2:43 of game time – OG Anunoby had a quick five, Miles McBride added two from the line, Towns put in five straight, before Anunoby's layup forced a second Indiana timeout. New York won the Brunson-less five minutes of play by 11 points, and soon after he entered, it was his step-back three that gave them the 14-point lead with 2:51 to play.

“They made shots, we didn’t,”Anunoby said. “We made some mistakes, missed some free throws.”

Towns added: "We played 46 good minutes. Those two minutes is where we lost the game. And that's on all of us."

Pacers overcome improbable 0-994 record in stunning Game 1 win over Knicks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Indiana Pacers never quit.

That was evident on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, when they defeated the New York Knicks in overtime to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Jalen Brunson and the Knicks were relentless for the first 45 minutes of the game, building a 14-point lead (119-105) on their All-Star guard’s 3-pointer with 2:51 to play. Then, the impossible happened.

Tyrese Haliburton for 3. Aaron Nesmith for 3. A Pascal Siakam free throw. Three more triples for Nesmith. And an insane step-back bucket for Haliburton to force overtime.

In the extra period, Indy outscored New York 13-10 to walk away with a shocking Game 1 road win.

Just how improbable was that late 14-point comeback? According to Josh Dubow of The Associated Press, teams leading a playoff game by 14 or more points in the final 2:45 of the fourth quarter were 994-0 during the play-by-play era (since 1997).

Make that 994-1.

watch tonight's fantastic finish from Game 1 at Madison Square Garden as we rallied from 14 down with 2:40 remaining 👀 pic.twitter.com/wNwqEQe8nW

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 22, 2025

It doesn’t stop there, though.

The Pacers pointed out that since 1997, teams trailing by seven or more in the final 50 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime in the playoffs are now 4-1,702. This year’s Pacers squad has three of those four wins, including Wednesday night.

Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press added that the Pacers’ 23 points in the final 3:14 of regulation is the most ever in a playoff game during the play-by-play era.

Indiana, now 9-2 in the postseason, hadn’t won a game in the East finals since 2004 after being swept by the eventual champion Boston Celtics last season.

The Pacers will look to keep the magic going on Friday night for Game 2, with the Knicks again hosting at Madison Square Garden before the series shifts to Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Game 3.

When the Knicks and Pacers were set to meet in this year's Eastern Conference Finals, memories of the playoff battles between the two teams in the 1990s were harkened back to, and Tyrese Haliburton evoked that history in Wednesday night's thrilling Game 1 win for Indiana.

In the waning seconds of regulation, and the Pacers down two points, Haliburton controlled the ball and drove to the hoop, but Mitchell Robinson came to stop him. Haliburton retreated toward the three-point line and took a fadeaway-like jumper. The ball hit the back of the rim but bounced straight up in the air as the buzzer sounded before going through the bottom of the net

"I knew it's going in. But it felt like it got stuck up there, though," Haliburton said of the shot after the game. "When it went in, my eyes might have been deceiving me in the moment, but it felt good when it left my hands. I thought it was going to go in. The ball just felt like it was up there for eternity. But man, special moment."

When the shot went in, Haliburton was mobbed by his teammates as the Indiana star did the choke gesture made famous by Pacers legend Reggie Miller toward the Garden crowd.

Haliburton thought he had hit a three at the buzzer to steal Game 1, but his toe was on the line. The shot didn't win the game, but it sent it to overtime and gave Indiana a chance.

Haliburton was asked about the choke gesture after the game.

"In the moment, I wasn’t plotting on it or anything. Everybody wanted me to do it last year at some point, but it had to feel right. It felt right at the time," he said. "If I would've known it was a two, I would not have done it. I might have wasted it. If I do it again, people might say I'm aura-farming. I don't plan on using it again."

Knicks fans know the infamous Reggie Miller "choke" game, where the sharpshooter scored 25 points in the fourth quarter in Game 4 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. With the series tied 2-2, Miller capped his performance by hitting five three-pointers to rally past the Knicks.

After the Knicks blew their 17-point, fourth-quarter lead, the Pacers had the momentum going into the extra quarter. They would capitalize on New York's mistakes and pull out the 138-135 OT win to take a 1-0 series lead.

Haliburton finished with a team-high 31 points and his heroics helped the Pacers steal home-court advantage heading into Game 2 on Friday night.

It's just one game, but Haliburton understands the importance of the win while also putting it into perspective. When he was asked about the historical significance of the choke gesture in this Knicks-Pacers rivalry, Haliburton made it clear he knows this series isn't over. New York won Games 6 and 7 after Miller's choke and Haliburton wants to avoid that same fate.

"I've seen that 'Winning Time' doc probably like 50 times growing up, so I know that [the Pacers] didn't win the series. I would not like to repeat that," Haliburton said. "It’s just a historic moment and that was more him versus Spike [Lee], kind of the one-on-one. That felt like it was toward everybody... I think it’s really cool for me to make my own history and for this group to make their own history while also showing respect and love to the ones that came before us. Definitely a special moment and one I won’t forget."

The ghosts of Reggie Miller were alive and well at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night – and Tyrese Haliburton once again played the role of Garden villain to perfection.

Haliburton tied the game with a wild jumper at the buzzer in regulation, then helped Indiana complete an unprecedented 14-point comeback in the final reel to beat the New York Knicks 138-135 in overtime in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Pacers now hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven-games series for a trip to the NBA finals after pulling off one of the most improbable finishes in playoff history.

WHAT A SHOT BY TYRESE HALIBURTON 🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/8wEwdkeRwZpic.twitter.com/s497GwRWi9

— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2025

New York led 119-105 with under three minutes remaining in regulation, seemingly in complete command. According to ESPN Research, their win probability was 99.7%. Jalen Brunson had returned from foul trouble and was attacking the goal with the bite, balance and GPS in the paint of a peak Allen Iverson. Karl-Anthony Towns was stretching the floor and punishing mismatches. A sold-out Garden crowd of 19,812 was in full throat and ready to spill outside into the rain-soaked celebrations that were already sweeping down Seventh Avenue. Instead, it was brought to a church-like hush as the Knicks unraveled completely, outscored 31-14 in the final 2:51 of regulation and overtime.

Aaron Nesmith sparked the Pacers’ comeback with a barrage of three-pointers, burying five in the final three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. He finished with 30 points on 8-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc, including back-to-back makes and a pair of free throws after the Knicks fouled him intentionally so he couldn’t tie the game with another.

“It’s unreal,” said Nesmith, a fifth-year swingman who averaged 12.0 points per game in the regular season. “It’s probably the best feeling in the world for me. I love it when that basket feels like an ocean and anything you toss up, you feel like it’s going to go in. It’s so much fun.”

Even with Nesmith’s late heroics, Indiana still trailed by two in the final seconds. Haliburton recovered from a loose dribble, stepped back near the three-point line and launched a high-arcing jumper just before the horn. It bounced high off the back rim, hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before dropping through the cylinder. He sprinted to the sideline and flashed a choke gesture – a direct nod to Miller’s infamous 1994 taunt aimed at Spike Lee.

Video replay confirmed Haliburton’s toe was on the line. The basket counted for two, tying the game at 125 and forcing the five-minute extra frame.

Indiana’s Andrew Nembhard then came alive in a see-saw overtime with a three-pointer followed by two go-ahead layups – the second giving the Pacers a 136-135 lead with 26.7 seconds left. A deflected pass off Brunson’s fingertips turned the ball back over to Indiana, and former Knick Obi Toppin slammed home a breakaway dunk with 10.9 seconds remaining to seal the win, Indiana’s fourth comeback from 15 points or more down in these playoffs.

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“I’m so proud of the resilience of this group, we’ve shown it all year,” Haliburton said. “We’ve had to win in so many different, random, unique ways and today we just kept going, kept fighting, and man, that’s fun.”

It wasn’t Miller’s eight points in 8.9 seconds to silence the Garden in the 1995 Eastern Conference semi-finals. It was somehow worse. And not just because Miller had a courtside seat for the carnage while commentating on the game for TNT.

Haliburton finished with 31 points and 11 assists. Nembhard added 15 points, including seven in overtime. Pascal Siakam scored 17, and Myles Turner contributed 14. The Pacers shot 57.1% from the field and 17-of-30 from deep, surviving New York’s fourth-quarter surge – including 14 unanswered points as Brunson sat with five fouls – and executing flawlessly down the stretch.

It was a collapse of historic proportions for New York, who appeared to have the game in hand after a 19-3 run midway through the fourth that opened a 111-94 lead. Since play-by-play tracking began in 1997-98, teams leading by 14 or more points with less than 2:45 remaining in regulation had been 994-0. The Knicks are now the one-in-a-thousand outlier.

The incandescent Brunson poured in 43 points and five assists but was hampered by foul trouble for much of the fourth quarter. Towns, who had struggled mightily from deep in the previous round against Boston, responded with 35 points and 12 rebounds, including 4-of-8 from three. OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges each added 16 points, and the Knicks shot a blistering 53% from the field – but spit the bit when it mattered most.

But the night belonged to Haliburton, who is no stranger to the role of Garden heel. Last year the 25-year-old led the Pacers to a one-sided Game 7 win that ended New York’s season in the second round, departing the arena in a hoodie depicting Miller’s notorious taunt.

“It’s a long series,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’re not going to get too excited about this. We’ve got things to clean up. They got things to clean up. Game 2 is going to be another war.”

The overtime classic on a soggy Wednesday night in Manhattan marked the first Eastern Conference finals game at Madison Square Garden in 25 years – and, fittingly, another installment in one of the NBA’s most storied playoff rivalries. The Knicks have now reached the conference finals four times since 1994. All four times, the opponent has been Indiana. New York won those meetings in 1994 and 1999. The Pacers answered in 2000 – and now again in 2024, with another early blow on enemy hardwood.

Game 2 is Friday night at the Garden. The Knicks will have to regroup fast. The Pacers, after stealing home court in spectacular fashion, are already writing the next chapter of a rivalry that refuses to fade.

“In the playoffs, when you win, it’s the best thing ever. When you lose, it’s the worst thing ever,” Brunson said. “The best way to deal with all that is to stay level-headed and making sure we have each other’s backs.”

The Knicks, who led by 14 points with 2:51 to play in the fourth quarter, succumbed to a barrage of three-pointers from the Indiana Pacers down the stretch before falling in overtime, 138-135, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

New York recovered from the blown lead and Tyrese Haliburton's buzzer-beater to send the game to the extra period by grabbing a four-point edge, and off a steal, Jalen Brunson had a layup taken off the glass in what looked like a goaltend. The Pacers answered with five straight from Andrew Nembhard,starting a back-and-forth battle with Brunson doing the scoring for the Knicks. But Indiana had a one-point edge with 27 seconds to play when head coach Tom Thibodeau called for time after Obi Toppin's tip-slam.

But a turnover, the Knicks' third of the overtime, and a blown defensive assignment led to another Toppin slam to put the visitors up by three with 15 ticks to play. The ball was in Brunson's hand, but his three was way short. Josh Hart grabbed a rebound and found Karl-Anthony Towns, but he was well short, too. When Bridges couldn't corral the rebound, the first game of the best-of-7 series had fully slipped through their fingers.

Here are the takeaways...

- The fourth quarter started poorly, had an amazing middle, and an even worse finish for the Knicks. It began when Brunson, the NBA’s clutch player of the year and engine of the Knicks’ offense, exited after he picked up his fifth foul after just 115 seconds and New York up by two.

OG Anunoby, who finished with 16 points, had a 5-0 run starting with a step-back three to push the lead back to seven. Miles McBride blocked Pascal Siakam as he attempted a jam,Towns added a block of his own, and Indiana was held to 1-for-9 from the floor before Anunoby’s layup gave the Knicks a 16-point lead (their biggest of the game) with 7:22 to play. It was a 14-0 run in under three minutes after Brunson sat.

And then, it all changed with 3:44 to play. Indiana responded with a barrage of threes, and a 10-3 run, cutting it to a seven-point game with 80 seconds to play. Brunson, who returned with five minutes to play and hit the lone three in that run, responded with a driving layup. But Indiana added two more threes (around a Towns layup) to make it a five-point game with 34 seconds left.

Out of a Knicks’ timeout, they turned it over (thanks to a smart Pacers challenge), and an Aaron Nesmith three, his third straight for Indiana, made it a two-point game with 22 seconds to play. After another near turnover on the in-bounds, Towns was fouled with 14 seconds to play but only managed to make the first from the line. Then the Knicks played the foul game: Anunoby got Nesmith immediately, and he made a pair. Siakam got Anunoby, who got just the second with 7.3 to play.

And Haliburton, with a toe barely on the three-point line, hit back iron, had the ball bounce high off the rim and right through to tie the game at the buzzer.

- Brunson finished with 43 points on 15-for-25 shooting (1-for-6 from deep, 12-for-14 from the line) with five assists and seven turnovers. He was a minus-8 in 38 minutes. Towns had 35 points on 11-for-17 shooting (4-for-8 from deep) with 12 rebounds and was a plus-9 in 39 minutes. Anunoby was a minus-12 in 42 minutes. Bridges had 16 points, six rebounds (four offensive), five assists, and was a minus-15 in 46 minutes. Hart was quiet on offense with eight points, but had 13 rebounds, seven assists and was a minus-4 in 44 minutes.

A big difference: Indiana had 27 points off the 15 New York turnovers. The home team managed just four points off of seven turnovers by the visitors.

Haliburton had 31 points (12-for-23) and was a plus-15 in 42 minutes. Nesmith had 30 points (9-for-13) and was a plus-10 in 39 minutes. Siakam added 17 points as a plus-8 in 43 minutes and Nembhard had 15 and was a plus-1 in 35 minutes.

- The key for the Knicks against the Pacers, a team that wants to push the pace and attack New York’s short rotation with waves of players coming off an eight-day layoff, was to limit turnovers and control the defensive glass to keep possessions short.

Unfortunately for the home side, the visitors scarcely missed a shot in the game’s early minutes, missing just three shots in their first 15 attempts after they opened the game by making their first nine field goals. The Knicks made five of their first nine attempts to keep things close. 

Mitchell Robinson entered and the offensive rebounds came right away. After the Pacers matched their biggest lead of the quarter at seven, he corralled his third of the period and kicked it to McBride for a three as part of a big run for New York, including Robinson stuffing an alley-oop. The reserve center added a block and steal and was a plus-6 in five minutes.

The run stretched to 14-5 to give the Knicks a two-point edge after shooting 15-for-23 (65 percent) to Indiana's 14-for-20 (70 percent). Bridges and Towns had eight points each.

Overall, Robinson had two points and eight rebounds (four offensive) and was even in 21 minutes. McBride had nine points (2-for-7) and was a plus-12 in 25 minutes.

- The Pacers’ full-court press began on the first made basket with two men guarding Brunson. But the Knicks’ MVP managed to find his way into the offense and against a wave of Indiana defenders – Nesmith, Nembhard, and TJ McConnell (off the bench) – followed a nine-point first quarter with nine in the second. And at the half, Nembhard had three fouls while Nesmith and McConnell each had two.

But three minutes into the third, it was Brunson who picked up his third foul on the offensive end as he got tangled with Nesmith. (Thibodeau unsuccessfully challenged the call.) Four minutes later, Brunson committed his fourth turnover and then picked up his fourth personal for fouling Haliburton on a jumper. He stayed in the game and put in a floater for an and-1 for seven in the quarter and 25 in the game.

After Haliburton hit a three to give him 23 in the game, Brunson (following a Robinson offensive board) hit a step-back jumper. Haliburton’s response: an air-balled three and a Pacers timeout. Brunson finished the quarter with nine points, of course.

- In the second, the Pacers’ shooting went cold and they suffered through a four-minute stretch without a field goal, including Toppin missing a wide-open tomahawk dunk, leading to Towns knocking down a corner three for a 13-1 Knicks run and an eight-point lead.

Even with Robinson off the court, the Knicks’ offensive rebounding proved a problem for Indiana; the home side had six rebounds on the offensive end (three of the team variety) as the shooting slowed down to 10-for-26 (38 percent) in the second quarter. The Knicks got nine second-chance points and 32 points in the paint through 24 minutes for a 69-62 halftime lead, with Towns adding seven points and Bridges four in the quarter. The Pacers' shooting fell off a cliff in the second: 9-for-26 (35 percent). But they recovered in a big way in the second half.

- Bridges continued to have a terrific two-way game to start the second half, collecting his third block of the game. But Indiana responded with a 10-4 run in less than two minutes, knocking down four-straight buckets to cut New York’s lead to three, forcing a Thibs timeout.

Indiana out-shot attempted New York in the third (21 to 14) as they hit the offensive glass hard, but the Knicks converted a higher percentage (57 to 48). But the nine-point lead in the quarter’s first minute was just three points entering the fourth.

- Cam Payne struggled with the bench unit to start the second quarter, committing two fouls early. But he made his first three since the opening round series to end a long drought from behind the arc. His second three capped a 10-1 run to give New York a five-point edge. He finished with six points and was a plus-5 in 10 minutes.

Highlights

Josh Hart ➡️ Mikal Bridges

(via @nyknicks) pic.twitter.com/RW5rH9pKvd

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

KAT SPLASH 🐱

(via @nyknicks) pic.twitter.com/occDGgNeTG

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

ALLEY OOP TO MITCHELL ROBINSON! pic.twitter.com/8nCdRChZv4

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

Mikal Bridges gets to the basket 💪

(via @nyknicks) pic.twitter.com/Ix7uY4jtVS

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

KAT FROM THE CORNER pic.twitter.com/pCLXP2IyPh

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

JALEN BRUNSON AND-ONE

(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/CvSszesmB3

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

Mitch keeps it alive and Jalen hits the jumper 🎯

(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/zDYJ4FvQjE

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

OG WITH TWO BIG BUCKETS pic.twitter.com/JYHvwXzRut

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

DEUCE MCBRIDE BLOCKS PASCAL SIAKAM AT THE RIM!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/gpgAphDtJl

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 22, 2025

What's next

These two teams are back in action at MSG on Friday night for an 8 p.m. tip.

Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was not close to cracking the top of the 2024-25 NBA MVP voting, but did get recognized for his achievements on the hardwood during the season.

Brunson received a single fifth-place vote out of 100 cast, tying him with Clippers guard James Harden and Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley for 10th place.

For the second-straight season, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver's Nikola Jokic were the top two vote-getters, but this time the Thunder guard took home the award with 71 first-place votes (913 points) over the Nuggets' center (787 points), who had the other 29.

The Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo (470 points) took home third place ahead of the Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum (311 points). Donovan Mitchell (74 points), LeBron James (16 points), Cade Cunningham (12 points), Anthony Edwards (12 points), and Steph Curry (2 points) also received votes.

In 65 regular season games this year, the Knicks' leader averaged 26 points (48.8 percent from the floor), 7.3 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in 35.4 minutes per game. He was also named to his second-straight NBA All-Star game, this time as a starter. He was also awarded this season's Clutch Player of the Year.

Last year, Brunson finished in fifth place (142 points) after receiving three second-place votes, one third-place vote, 28 fourth-place votes and 32 fifth-place votes.

The case for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was simple. He's the best player on an Oklahoma City Thunder team that had the best record this season and set a league mark for margin of victory. If that wasn't enough, he also won the scoring title.

That's an MVP season.

Gilgeous-Alexander was announced Wednesday as the NBA's Most Valuable Player, his first time winning the award. It's now seven consecutive years that a player born outside the U.S. won MVP, extending the longest such streak in league history.

“You try so hard throughout the season to like not think about it and just worry about playing basketball and getting better and trying to win games,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on TNT, when the results were unveiled. “But as a competitor and as a kid dreaming about the game, it's always in the back of your mind.”

It ultimately was a two-person race. Gilgeous-Alexander got 71 first-place votes and 29 second-place votes; Denver's Nikola Jokic got the other 29 first-place votes and the other 71 second-place votes.

Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo was third, getting 88 of the 100 possible third-place votes.

Gilgeous-Alexander — the No. 11 pick in the 2018 draft by the Clippers — averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists and five rebounds per game this season, leading the Thunder to a 68-14 record. The Thunder outscored teams by 12.9 points per game, the biggest margin in league history.

He becomes the second Canadian to win MVP; Steve Nash won it twice.

“His value is his confidence,” Oklahoma City’s Kenrich Williams said of Gilgeous-Alexander, his Thunder teammate for the last five seasons. “His confidence that he has in himself and the confidence that he instills in every one of his teammates, including the coaches.”

Read more:Granderson: The Lakers should draft a big man who's also a grown-up

Jokic — a winner of three of the last four MVP awards — was second, despite a season for the ages. He averaged 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game, the first center to average a triple-double and the first player since all those stats were tracked to finish in the NBA’s top three in all three of those categories.

It was the sixth instance of a player finishing a season averaging a triple-double — at least 10 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds per game. Russell Westbrook did it four times and Oscar Robertson once, but only one of those triple-double seasons led to an MVP win.

“He’s a special player,” Jokic said of Gilgeous-Alexander earlier this week when the Thunder eliminated the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals. “His shot selection, his shot capability … he’s always there. He’s a special player.”

Antetokounmpo averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game. He started this run of international players winning MVP. Of Greek and Nigerian descent, he won in 2019 and 2020.

Jokic, a Serbian, won in 2021, 2022 and 2024. And Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but since became a U.S. citizen, won the award in 2023.

Now, it's Gilgeous-Alexander — a son of Ontario, where hockey reigns — carrying the MVP flag after finishing second last year.

“There are voters every year. That will never change,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And last year, all it meant was that more people thought I shouldn't have won than should have won. This year I wanted to change the narrative and have it flipped. I think I did a good job of that.”

The MVP award, like most other NBA honors, was voted on by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league and cast ballots shortly before the start of the playoffs.

The other awards that were part of that voting process and have already had their results unveiled: Cleveland's Kenny Atkinso, coach of the year; Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, most improved player; San Antonio’s Stephon Castle, rookie of the year, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, defensive player of the year; New York’s Jalen Brunson, clutch player of the year; Boston’s Payton Pritchard, sixth man of the year.

Other awards announced by the league since the end of the regular season: Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year, Warriors teammate Draymond Green, hustle award; Oklahoma City's Sam Presti, executive of the year; Boston’s Jrue Holiday, sportsmanship award for the second time in his career as well as social justice award.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

O'Connor: Brown, White have ‘massive' trade value if C's make a move originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

A complicated financial situation could force the Boston Celtics to make difficult decisions this summer. Aside from Jayson Tatum, who will miss most of next season recovering from a ruptured Achilles, seemingly anyone on the roster could be traded to achieve financial flexibility.

Boston must shed more than $20 million in salary to avoid the restrictive penalties associated with being in the second apron of the luxury tax. That means they may have to move at least one rotation player from the championship core this offseason.

Although Jaylen Brown and Derrick White are set to be the faces of the Celtics while Tatum misses time, even they aren’t safe from being dealt. Trading either star would immediately solve Boston’s financial dilemma and would likely garner a significant haul.

Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports joined Wednesday’s Early Edition to discuss what a Brown or White trade could look like.

“I think it’s massive. I do,” O’Connor said of Brown’s trade value. “Think about Houston, for example. If they wanted to reunite Ime Udoka with Jaylen Brown and they don’t get Giannis Antetokounmpo. If the Houston Rockets on draft night come calling with the No. 10 pick, Fred VanVleet’s contract, which will only have one year left after his team option kicks in, and a bunch of other high-value future picks — they have Suns future first-rounders among other teams as well — if you’re the Celtics, I would think you at least have to listen to that offer if Houston comes calling with that.”

As for White, the do-it-all guard has already been the subject of trade rumors with the Golden State Warriors as a potential suitor. O’Connor sees such a move as a real possibility if the Warriors send C’s president of basketball operations Brad Stevens a serious offer.

“If the Golden State Warriors, if they were to call up and offer a Mikal Bridges-esque package — four first-round draft picks — for Derrick White, you gotta listen,” O’Connor said.

“And so, those are the paths I can’t stop thinking about with the Celtics, even though the easiest thing to do is to come back, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown in the ’26-’27 season and roll it back and try to win again. That’s the easiest path for sure.”

Brown or White donning a different uniform next season would be jarring. Both have cemented themselves in Celtics lore, with Brown earning NBA Finals MVP honors and White stepping up as one of the game’s best two-way guards since joining Boston in 2022. But given the financial situation, and the uncertain state of the team following Tatum’s injury, Stevens and new team owner Bill Chisholm may have no choice but to make an uncomfortable move involving a fan favorite.

Watch the full Early Edition segment with O’Connor in the video below, or watch on YouTube:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, capping a breakout year in which he led the Oklahoma City Thunder to a league-best 68 wins and the franchise’s deepest playoff run since the Kevin Durant era, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old guard, who will be officially honored on Wednesday night, edged out Denver’s Nikola Jokić for the award after finishing runner-up to the Serbian star last season. Gilgeous-Alexander became the first Thunder player to win MVP since Russell Westbrook in 2017, and only the third in team history, alongside Westbrook and Durant.

Gilgeous-Alexander is the first Canadian to win the award since Steve Nash in 2006. He also continues a run of players from outside the US claiming the award. The last US-born player to win the award was James Harden in 2018. Since then Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo has won the award twice and Serbia’s Jokić on three occasions. Joel Embiid, who represents the US at international level, but was born and raised in Cameroon, was named MVP in 2023.

Related: Nikola Jokić is putting up record numbers. So why is he unlikely to be NBA MVP?

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged a league-high 32.7 points per game on 51.9% shooting, adding 6.4 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks. His all-around excellence powered an Oklahoma City team that not only topped the standings but also set an NBA record with a plus-12.9 average point differential.

He joins Michael Jordan as the only players to average at least 30 points on 50% shooting with five rebounds, five assists, 1.5 steals and one blocked shot in a season. It’s the third consecutive year Gilgeous-Alexander has topped 30 points per game while shooting better than 50%, a feat previously matched only by legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jordan.

His impact went beyond scoring. Gilgeous-Alexander was instrumental in the Thunder’s top-ranked defense, tallying 208 combined steals and blocks, third-most in the league behind Victor Wembanyama and Dyson Daniels.

With Oklahoma City squarely in title contention, Gilgeous-Alexander is also poised to become the NBA’s highest-paid player. He qualifies this summer for a four-year, $294m supermax extension – the richest annual deal in league history.