A Game 4 victory over Boston on Monday brought the to within one win of their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years. While was happy with that victory, he made a point of calming down some of his celebrating teammates at the end of the game, according to Chris Herring of ESPN.
“I was actually telling everyone to get off the court. I was like, it’s nothing to celebrate,” Brunson said.
The Knicks are well positioned to finish off the Celtics, who will be without star forward for the rest of the series after he tore his Achilles in Game 4. But Brunson recognizes that the defending champions won’t go down easily and wants his team to remember that there’s work to be done. He told reporters after Monday’s victory that the team did a good job of playing with urgency while holding a 2-1 series lead.
“I think (there) was a sense of urgency, desperation. Knowing that we had a great opportunity against a really good team,” Brunson said. “I don’t even think we’re playing our best basketball yet. We have a team that’s still fairly new this year, and we have a long way to go be the best team we can be. There’s always time to learn for us. We’re never satisfied, and that’s the mentality.”
Here’s more on the Knicks ahead of Wednesday’s Game 5: