NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson had 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while playing all 48 minutes in a season-extending performance, and the New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat 112-103 on Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Knicks denied the Heat’s first attempt to become just the second No. 8 seed to reach the conference finals and sent the series back to Miami for Game 6 on Friday night.

RJ Barrett added 26 points and Julius Randle had 24 for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who stayed alive in hopes of reaching the conference finals for the first time since 2000. They did that by getting by the Heat in seven games in the second round, a possibility that still exists.

The Knicks built a 19-point lead in the third quarter, then hung on when the Heat finally got their 3-pointers to start falling and cut it to two with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.

Jimmy Butler had 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Heat, getting held below 25 points for the first time in this postseason. Bam Adebayo added 18 points and Duncan Robinson had 17.

The 1999 Knicks, for now, remain the only No. 8 to get to a conference finals in the current playoff format that began in 1984. They got all the way to the NBA Finals after upsetting the top-seeded Heat in the first round.

The Heat used a pair of huge quarter-opening runs — 18-2 to begin the second and 23-7 in the third — to build a 73-54 lead midway through the third quarter. The Heat got it all the way down to 103-101 before Isaiah Hartenstein — in the game because the Heat were intentionally fouling starting center Mitchell Robinson — slammed home a follow dunk to start New York’s finishing kick.

Quentin Grimes also went all 48 minutes for the Knicks, finishing with eight points.

NOTES

AWARDS: Denver’s Nikola Jokic now knows how Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid felt during two previous NBA award seasons.

Second in the MVP race — but only second-team All-NBA.

Embiid — the newly crowned MVP — headlined the All-NBA team. He was the first-team center, while Jokic was the second-team pick at that position. It was a reversal of the results from 2021 and 2022, when Jokic was MVP over Embiid, who then had to settle for the second-team All-NBA center spot.

And this should be the final time such a quirk happens. Starting next year, the All-NBA team will no longer be broken down by position — meaning the presumed second-best player in the NBA one season, such as Embiid in 2021 and 2022 and Jokic now, will not have to be relegated to second-team anything.

Joining Embiid on the first team were Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo at forward, and Dallas’ Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at guard.

On the second team along with Jokic were Miami’s Jimmy Butler and Boston’s Jaylen Brown at forward, and Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell at guard.

The third team center was Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, with the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James — now a 19-time selection, extending his record — and New York’s Julius Randle getting the forward spots and Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox and Portland’s Damian Lillard the guard selections.

FORMER DUKE coach Mike Krzyzewski is coming out of retirement and heading to the NBA — as an adviser, not a coach.

The league said Krzyzewski, the Hall of Famer and all-time men’s college Division I coaching wins leader, is its new special adviser to basketball operations. He will be present next week at the league’s general managers meeting in Chicago, coinciding with the draft lottery and combine there.

The former Duke coach “will provide counsel to the league office, NBA team executives and other leaders across the league on a host of issues related to the game,” the league said.

Krzyzewski retired after the 2021-22 season with five national championships — along with a slew of records including 1,202 wins at the men’s Division I level, 13 Final Four appearances, 36 NCAA Tournament trips and 101 NCAA Tournament game wins.

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