Knicks take 2-0 series lead after decisive third-quarter run downs 76ers

The game everyone remembers as a Jalen Brunson grinder actually turned on something messier — New York’s refusal to die in the last half-minute. The Knicks beat the 76ers 104-101 in Game 2 on April 22, 2024, and took a 2-0 first-round lead, but the shape of it matters more than the number. Philadelphia had control late. Madison Square Garden was bracing for a split. Then the whole thing broke open in about 27 seconds. ### Was this really a third-quarter takeover? Not exactly — and that’s the first thing to clean up. New York did win the third quarter 30-21 after trailing 53-49 at halftime, which helped set up the finish. But the decisive swing people still talk about came at the very end, when the Knicks ripped away a game the Sixers had basically pocketed. ### What happened in those final seconds? Philadelphia led by five with 27 seconds left. Then Brunson hit a 3. Josh Hart stole the inbounds pass. The ball pinballed around after a missed New York try, and DiVincenzo buried the next 3 with 13 seconds remaining to put the Knicks ahead. It felt less like a set play than a bar fight with perfect timing. ### Where was Brunson in all this? Brunson wasn’t efficient by his usual standard, but he was central anyway. He scored 24 points and had the nerve to take the shot that started the comeback, even after a rough shooting night. That’s the real Brunson thing — not clean box-score beauty every night, but control when the game gets ugly and everyone else starts rushing. ### Why did DiVincenzo’s shot matter so much? Because it turned a likely series reset into a Philadelphia crisis. A split in New York would have sent the series to Wells Fargo Center feeling even. Instead, the Sixers walked home down 0-2, with one loss that was normal and one loss that was emotionally expensive. DiVincenzo’s matchup. ### Did the Knicks control the game before that? Only in stretches. The Knicks recovered from a slow first quarter, owned the third, and got enough from their usual identity pieces — offensive rebounding, hustle, extra possessions. But they were still on the verge of losing because Tyrese Maxey and Philadelphia’s late-game landed so hard. It wasn’t a tidy close. It was theft. ### What did this mean for the series? It meant the Knicks had protected home court in the loudest possible way. Teams that go up 2-0 obviously gain the edge, but this one also shoved pressure straight onto Joel Embiid and Maxey before the series even got back to Philadelphia. And the next game proved the emotional hinge. ### So why does this game still stick? Because it compressed the whole Knicks playoff identity into one sequence. Chaos. Offensive glass. Brunson calm. DiVincenzo nerve. A crowd going from dread to delirium in seconds. Plenty of playoff wins fade into the bracket. This one didn’t, because everyone watching thought they knew how it ended — and they were wrong. The bottom line is simple — if you call this a third-quarter knockout, you miss the real story. The Knicks’ 2-0 lead came from a good third quarter, yes, but it was sealed by one of the wildest closing scrambles of the 2024 playoffs.