CLEVELAND – Jalen Brunson isn't looking in the rearview mirror at the New York Knicks' 10-game winning streak while the possibility of reaching the NBA Finals is still in the horizon, even though it is one win away.
Brunson's focus, along with the rest of his teammates, is what happens in the first 12 minutes of Monday night's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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“So you have the first possession, the first quarter, and then you have the end of the first half and you go on,” Brunson said after Saturday night's 121-108 victory. “You just continue to just deal with what’s in front of you and just have your teammates' back. Make sure everyone’s on the same page, making sure that everyone’s holding each other accountable. That’s just the most important thing right now.”
The blinders approach has New York on a 10-game winning streak with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points and one victory away from its first finals appearance since 1999.
No team in NBA history has blown a 3-0 lead, and the Knicks aren't showing any signs of being the first in 164 series.
Just when everyone thinks the Knicks are peaking, they find a way to find another gear. Forward OG Anunoby, who missed the last two games of the Philadelphia series due to a strained right hamstring, had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists in Saturday night's victory.
Anunoby is second on the team in scoring during the winning streak, averaging 19.8 points in eight games.
Brunson is averaging 29 points in the series and 27.8 in the postseason while Karl-Anthony Downs is averaging a double-double with 16.8 points and 10.3 rebounds, along with 6.1 assists.
Brunson said the next-man-up mentality has displayed itself throughout the series.
“We have a bunch of individuals in that we locker room who work really hard and they’re very psychotic about their work and the things they do, and making sure that they’re ready physically and mentally so when their number’s called and then when there’s time to go out there, they’re ready,” Brunson said. “We have a lot of real professionals on our roster.”
The Knicks have had the momentum in the series since rallying from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cavaliers 115-104 in Game 1. Towns noted though the Knicks still have the mentality that it is the opening tip of the first game.
“We've got to come out with that same desperation as Game 1. What got us here as a team, we’ve won all these games in a row as a team, we’ve had this winning streak as a team. As long as we stay together, we stay unified, we always have felt that the sky’s the limit for us,” he said.
Cleveland will be playing its 14th game since April 29, while New York will be playing its ninth.
The Cavaliers are shooting only 29.4% from 3-point range and are 50 of 74 from the foul line. Donovan Mitchell is averaging 26 points in the series, but has appeared not to have the same burst he had in previous rounds.
Coach Kenny Atkinson is hoping his team can find something in the tank to avoid a sweep, but knows his team is winded after enduring a pair of seven-game series against Toronto and Detroit to get to their first Eastern Conference final in eight years.
“I said it before this series, the rest disadvantage is real. It’s massive, right? And it plays into it. I don’t think anybody has a grip on what that really means saying, ‘Well why are you shooting so below expected? Is that a part of it?’ I don’t know. I don’t have that answer,” he said.
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