MIAMI — Jalen Brunson truly had a superb season until the bitter end, but the Knicks’ other top players couldn’t do nearly enough Friday night to help him keep the season alive.
Brunson followed up his 48-minute masterpiece two nights earlier with 41 points in 45 minutes, but the Knicks received little production from Julius Randle and RJ Barrett in a season-ending 96-92 loss to the Heat in Game 6 at Kaseya Center.
Aside from Brunson, who finished 14 of 22 from the field, the other four Knicks starters shot a combined 15.6 percent (5-for-32) —including 20 of 24 misses by Randle (15 points) and RJ Barrett (11) — as the Knicks fell to 0-15 in their history when trailing 3-1 in a best-of-7 playoff series.
Jimmy Butler scored 24 points and Bam Adebayo had 23 with nine rebounds in another dominant inside performance for the Heat, who will face the winner of Sunday’s Game 7 between the Celtics and the 76ers next week in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Knicks were down one early in the fourth quarter, but an Adebayo jumper and a triple by Max Strus (14 points) made it an 82-76 game with under seven minutes to play.
Brunson’s fifth 3-pointer in 10 attempts got the Knicks within three with 3:17 remaining but Butler sank a jumper and Strus one free throw for a 90-84 lead.
Mitchell Robinson sank two free throws for his only points of the game, but Adebayo’s slam at the other end made it a six-point game again with 1:05 to go.
Still, Brunson got knocked across the face by Gabe Vincent for a Flagrant 1 with 59.5 seconds remaining, and he sank both technical free throws, with the Knicks also maintaining the ball.
Brunson drove and found Josh Hart slicing to the basket to trim the deficit to two, but after a defensive stop, Brunson was called for an offensive foul and Butler nailed both free throws with 14.4 seconds remaining.
Even with Brunson’s arrival last summer via free agency, odds-makers had the Knicks with an over-under win total of 38 coming into the season.
They finished the 82-game slate with a record of 47-35, their second-most over the past 22 seasons.
