Brunson leads Knicks to 2-0 series lead with Game 2 win over 76ers

The Knicks got a very different kind of win in Game 2. Game 1 was a demolition. Game 2 was the version that usually tells you more — close score, late possessions, pressure everywhere. New York held off Philadelphia 108-102 on Wednesday night and now has a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with Jalen Brunson again at the center of it. (sports.yahoo.com) ### Why did this one feel bigger? Because blowouts can lie a little. A team gets hot, the other team has a bad night, and the game gets weird fast. This one didn’t give either side that escape hatch. Philadelphia stayed attached most of the night, and the Knicks still found the answers late. That matters more when you’re trying to figure out whether a series is actually tilting. (nba.com) ### What did Brunson actually do? He scored 26, but the number is only part of it. Brunson settled the game whenever it threatened to swing. He got New York organized, found his midrange spots, and helped the Knicks regain control after the Sixers kept making pushes. In a game that never opened up the way Game 1 did, that shot-making and pace control was the whole point. (sports.yahoo.com) ### Was this only Brunson? No — and that’s part of why New York should feel good. OG Anunoby was a major piece before he left late, and the Knicks got enough support around Brunson to avoid becoming predictable. That’s the tactical difference from a pure star-carry job: Philadelphia knew where the ball was going, but New York still kept generating enough workable offense. (sports.yahoo.com) ### How much did Embiid’s absence change this? A lot. Joel Embiid was ruled out before the game with a sprained right ankle and a sore right hip, which stripped Philadelphia of its main offensive hub and its most intimidating interior presence. The Sixers still competed, which says something about their resilience, b(sports.yahoo.com)e. (nba.com) ### So should the Sixers feel encouraged or doomed? A little of both. Encouraged because they turned a game that could have drifted away into a real fourth-quarter fight without Embiid. Doomed, or at least deeply stressed, because moral victories don’t change the math. Going down 0-2 is rough on its own. Doing it while heading home with Embii(nba.com)3 on Friday is no longer a chance to reset — it’s close to a must-win. (sports.yahoo.com) ### What’s the new worry for New York? Anunoby’s leg. He exited in the closing minutes with an apparent injury, and that instantly changed the mood around the Knicks. New York can survive a lot because Brunson gives it structure, but Anunoby is one of the players who makes the whole thing fit on both ends — si(sports.yahoo.com), and the series gets more complicated fast. (espn.com) ### Why does the move to Philadelphia matter now? Because the series finally gets a new variable. The Knicks handled business at home. Now the Sixers get crowd energy, last change in feel if not in hockey terms, and a chance to make the games uglier and more emotional. But the catch is simple: venue only matters so much if Embiid still can’t go or can’t look like himself. (sports.yahoo.com) ### Bottom line? New York didn’t just repeat the result. The Knicks proved they can win the other kind of playoff game too — the tense one. That’s why 2-0 feels real. But the next headline in this series may depend less on Brunson’s brilliance than on the medical updates for Embiid and Anunoby. (sports.yahoo.com)