Jalen Brunson’s big night sends Knicks to NBA Cup semifinals at last

The third time really did the trick. The New York Knicks punched their ticket to the NBA Cup semifinals with a 117-101 win over the Toronto Raptors, pulling away in the second half after a deep three from Josh Hart stretched the lead to 20.

It marks the first time the franchise has reached the Las Vegas stage of the tournament. Persistence has not been the issue. The Knicks are the only team to make the quarterfinals in all three editions of the event, which debuted in the 2023-24 season. The Los Angeles Lakers won the inaugural trophy and the Milwaukee Bucks claimed the second.

A Knicks team built to win right now

The Knicks believe the third run could be the one that ends with a championship, and they have the roster to back it up. New York has been aggressive on the trade and free agent markets and has built a team with genuine top-end potential. Still, the group stalled last season when the Indiana Pacers stopped their playoff push short of the NBA Finals.

This year looks different. The Eastern Conference has no clear dominant team and the Knicks are positioning themselves to make a real run. They sit in second place at 17-7 after winning four straight, and they have taken eight of their last nine.

Brunson takes over in Toronto

Much of New York’s leap forward starts with one left hand, the one belonging to Jalen Brunson. The guard is one of the league’s most potent scorers and he put all of Canada on notice with a 35-point eruption that included six three pointers on nine attempts. He opened the game with a blistering 20-point first quarter that featured four makes from deep. Toronto had no answer.

Brunson found himself in a scoring duel with Brandon Ingram. The Raptors forward put up 17 points in that same first quarter and finished with 31, briefly giving Toronto hope at 39-35. That hope faded quickly. A 34-13 Knicks run before halftime created a 69-52 gap that widened to 72-52 early in the third.

The Raptors tried to fight back but never closed the gap enough to threaten. They have now lost four straight and six of their last seven, a slide that has dropped them deeper in the standings.

Knicks face Magic in NBA Cup semifinal in Vegas

The Knicks, meanwhile, head to Las Vegas smiling. They will take on the Orlando Magic in Saturday’s semifinal at 5:30 p.m. ET.

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Toronto Raptors

Stats

4 Scottie Barnes
3 Brandon Ingram
19 Jakob Poeltl
30 Ochai Agbaji
23 Jamal Shead
1 Gradey Dick
24 Chucky Hepburn
0 A.J. Lawson
54 Sandro Mamukelashvili
55 Alijah Martin
2 Jonathan Mogbo
12 Collin Murray-Boyles
17 Garrett Temple
14 Ja'Kobe Walter

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
4 Scottie Barnes	37	13	5	0	5	4	2	2	0	0/0	5/12	1/6	0	3	0
3 Brandon Ingram	38	31	6	0	6	6	3	2	0	6/8	8/13	3/5	0	1	0
19 Jakob Poeltl	24	10	9	4	5	3	2	2	0	0/0	5/7	0/0	0	3	0
30 Ochai Agbaji	25	3	4	1	3	1	0	1	1	1/1	1/3	0/1	0	4	0
23 Jamal Shead	33	18	3	1	2	8	1	1	0	2/4	2/4	4/11	0	3	0
1 Gradey Dick	7	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	0	0/0	0/2	0/1	0	1	0
24 Chucky Hepburn	8	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/3	0	1	0
0 A.J. Lawson	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2/2	0/1	0/1	0	0	0
54 Sandro Mamukelashvili	15	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	0	0/0	1/1	0/3	0	1	0
55 Alijah Martin	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
2 Jonathan Mogbo	2	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1/1	1/1	0/0	0	0	0
12 Collin Murray-Boyles	21	6	5	4	1	3	1	0	1	0/2	3/6	0/0	0	3	0
17 Garrett Temple	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	0	0
14 Ja'Kobe Walter	18	13	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	2/2	3/6	0	2	0

New York Knicks

Stats

8 OG Anunoby
3 Josh Hart
32 Karl-Anthony Towns
25 Mikal Bridges
11 Jalen Brunson
0 Jordan Clarkson
51 Mohamed Diawara
20 Tosan Evbuomwan
55 Ariel Hukporti
13 Tyler Kolek
9 Kevin McCullar Jr.
23 Mitchell Robinson
28 Guerschon Yabusele
50 Trey Jemison III

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
8 OG Anunoby	35	13	6	1	5	1	3	2	2	4/4	3/5	1/6	0	3	0
3 Josh Hart	36	21	6	1	5	4	3	2	0	1/1	4/4	4/7	0	0	0
32 Karl-Anthony Towns	30	14	16	5	11	1	1	1	2	5/6	3/9	1/2	0	4	0
25 Mikal Bridges	36	15	5	1	4	4	0	2	1	0/0	3/6	3/8	0	4	0
11 Jalen Brunson	39	35	3	0	3	4	3	0	1	3/5	7/10	6/9	0	1	0
0 Jordan Clarkson	26	12	3	2	1	0	1	0	0	2/4	5/9	0/1	0	1	0
51 Mohamed Diawara	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0	0	0
20 Tosan Evbuomwan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	1	0
55 Ariel Hukporti	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
13 Tyler Kolek	7	2	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0/0	1/1	0/0	0	0	0
9 Kevin McCullar Jr.	1	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	1/1	0	0	0
23 Mitchell Robinson	15	2	5	4	1	4	2	1	1	2/8	0/0	0/0	0	5	0
28 Guerschon Yabusele	6	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0	0	0
50 Trey Jemison III	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0