Jalen Brunson celebrates during the Knicks’ 97-92 win over the 76ers in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday in Philadelphia. Brunson had 47 points and 10 assists. Matt Slocum/Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Jalen Brunson scored a career playoff-high 47 points and added 10 assists, and the New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 97-92 on Sunday to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
OG Anunoby had 16 points and 14 rebounds and took on some of the defensive assignment against Joel Embiid in the fourth quarter as the Knicks moved within a victory of getting to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the second straight year.
The No. 2-seeded Knicks can do that with a victory at home on Tuesday night.
Embiid played the entire second half after the 76ers faltered badly when he sat in the first. But the All-Star center, who has been dealing with lingering problems from his surgically repaired left knee that he appeared to reinjure after a dunk in Game 1, couldn’t muster a basket in the fourth quarter.
Embiid finished with 27 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Tyrese Maxey scored 23 points for the 76ers, who will try to force another game at home, which would be Thursday.
Not that the 76ers had much of a home-court advantage Sunday. Knicks fans were all over the arena and gave Brunson louder chants of “MVP! MVP!” than Embiid – who won the award last season – received from the home fans.
Brunson earned every one of them on a day when some of his usual support couldn’t get going.
Josh Hart missed all seven shots and Donte DiVincenzo missed his first seven. But Hart grabbed 17 rebounds and the Knicks kept going after missed shots – especially when it was clear Embiid didn’t have the energy to keep chasing them – and scored 21 second-chance points.
Brunson was in the locker room to start the fourth quarter but returned to hit a basket over Embiid during a 6-0 Knicks run that gave them the lead for good, 86-81. He had another basket that made it 95-89 with 55 seconds remaining.
PACERS 126, BUCKS 113: Myles Turner scored 29 points, Tyrese Haliburton added 24, and Indiana made a franchise playoff-record 22 3-pointers as its pulled away late for a 126-113 victory over visiting Milwaukee.
The win gave the Pacers a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Indiana has won three straight since losing the opener and can reach the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time since 2014 with a win Tuesday at Milwaukee.
Haliburton posted a career playoff scoring high for the second straight game, while Turner matched a playoff career high that he set in Friday night’s overtime win. Turner also had nine rebounds and four assists against a Bucks squad that was missing injured All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Brook Lopez led the Bucks with 27 points and nine rebounds. Khris Middleton added 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
CLIPPERS 116, MAVERICKS 111: Paul George and James Harden each scored 33 points while playing key fourth-quarter roles to help Los Angeles hold on after blowing a 31-point lead at Dallas, evening the first-round series at 2-2.
The Clippers won again without Kawhi Leonard, who missed the series opener because of right knee inflammation before playing in the two Dallas victories.
The teams have split a pair on each other’s home court in the third Western Conference first-round meeting between them in the past five seasons. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
Kyrie Irving scored 40 points for Dallas, including an acrobatic layup with 2:15 remaining for a 104-103 lead that was the first for the Mavericks since the middle of the first quarter.
Luka Doncic had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his fourth career playoff triple-double – all against the Clippers.
George scored 26 points in the first half, when the Clippers’ lead reached 55-24 on a 3-pointer by Harden. The high-scoring stars combined to go 11 of 16 from long range as Los Angeles finished 18 of 29 overall.
NOTES
COACH OF THE YEAR: Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault was named NBA Coach of the Year after leading one of the league’s youngest teams to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Daigneault, 39, joins Scott Brooks (2010) as the only Thunder coaches to win the award.
The other finalists were Minnesota’s Chris Finch and Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley.
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