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Knicks Notes: Brunson, Anunoby, Hart, Tucker, Robinson

May 14th 2025 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

A Game 4 victory over Boston on Monday brought the Knicks to within one win of their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years. While Jalen Brunson 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 Jayson Tatum 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:

  • OG Anunoby had an injury scare at the end of the first quarter of Game 4, holding his hamstring while leaving the court, but returned to action and was a difference-maker for the Knicks, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. After making just 3-of-15 shots from the field in Games 2 and 3, Anunoby had 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting on Monday in what head coach Tom Thibodeau described as a “huge” performance. “Just the toughness, the timely plays, flying all over the place,” Thibodeau said. “… He’s so disruptive.”
  • Knicks forward Josh Hart was amused to receive a trophy from the NBA for being this season’s “minutes champion,” as ESPN relays (via Twitter). No qualified player averaged more minutes per game in 2024/25 than Hart’s 37.6. “Guess I got my cardio in this year,” he wrote in an Instagram story that included several crying-laughing emojis.
  • Veteran forward P.J. Tucker hasn’t played a single minute for the Knicks in the postseason after appearing in just three regular season games, but he’s still making an impact, earning a shout-out from Hart after Game 4 for his “champion” mentality, as Jared Schwartz of The New York Post relays. “The way he talks, the way he leads,” Brunson added. “Obviously, he’s been around the league a long time and he has a lot of experience and so when he talks, we listen. So, having a guy like that on our team has been remarkable for us. He’s been fantastic since he’s been there.”
  • Fred Katz of The Athletic explores the outsized impact that center Mitchell Robinson is having on the boards in a fairly limited role this series.
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