This time, there was no trip to the locker room, no cape, no miracle. The Knicks' offense sputtered from start to finish and couldn't find the clutch, fourth-quarter magic that had powered them to a victory in Game 4. Instead, the Knicks fell 106-103 to the Pistons and will have to head back to Detroit for Game 6.
Prior to Game 5, the Knicks were averaging 30.5 fourth quarter points. They would have needed to exceed that average to pull out another miracle win this time.
The loss should serve as a lesson for the Knicks, specifically for Tom Thibodeau and the coaching staff. They desperately need to do a better job running the offense and not relying on Brunson's heroics to bail them out of sticky situations. As fantastic as the league's most clutch player has been, it is simply not a sustainable recipe for success for an entire playoff run.
Brunson's worst playoff game of his Knicks' career
Brunson struggled to ever get into an offensive flow, finishing with only 16 points on four of 16 shooting (25 percent) from the field and one of four shooting (25 percent) from three. The 16 points were the fewest Brunson has scored in the Playoffs during his three-year Knicks career.
The very first play of the second half, a 24-second shot clock violation, set the tone for an underwhelming final 24 minutes of offense.
On top of the shooting woes, the Knicks' star had an un-Brunson-like game when it came to ball security, something he had excelled at so far this series. Brunson finished with four turnovers, the second-most he has had this series.
The good news, is Brunson appears to have avoided serious injury, after originally leaving the game in the fourth with an apparent leg injury.
It wasn't just Brunson
Some of the blame falls on Thibs, some falls on Brunson, some falls on the rest of the team. Karl-Anthony Towns certainly deserves a share of it. His up-and-down series continues with a significant down. He finished the game is 17 points while shooting 35.7 percent from the field and 50 percent from three.
Once again, Towns struggled to impose his will in the post while guarded by a smaller wing and went through large stretches of the game just "existing" when the Knicks needed him to be dominating.
Mikal Bridges came alive in the fourth quarter, where he scored 13 of his 17 points on five of eight shooting, including two of three. But his valiant effort, much of which occurred while Brunson was on the sideline, fell short.
Bridges acknowledged it was strange fighting to win the game in clutch time without Brunson, saying, "It's different, you know...But it don't mean that we can't step up, I should have made shots and hold it down for him, as much as he holds it down for us when we're out there. We just got to be better."