Jalen Brunson scores 33 points and helps Knicks take 3-0 lead over 76ers with 108-94 Game 3 win

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored 33 points and sealed the game with big buckets late to the delight of roaring Knicks fans, leading New York to a 108-94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night for a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Brunson shook off a 2-of-8 start from the floor and finished 11 of 22 in 38 minutes to send the Knicks to their sixth straight postseason victory.

“I'm Linus. Jalen's my blanket,” first-year Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “He helps me relax at a lot of different times during the course of the game."

With 2016 and 2018 Villanova national championship banners hanging in the rafters, the so-called Nova Knicks all took turns taking the fight out of the Sixers in the fourth quarter, turning a four-point lead into another double-digit victory.

Josh Hart had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Mikal Bridges added 23 points, pushing the Knicks within one victory of their second straight conference finals appearance.

When Brown took the job after Tom Thibodeau was fired, the veteran coach said he wouldn't know what kind of team he really had until he got “into the trenches with them.”

Brown now sees the makings of a championship team.

“Yeah, OK, we might have a chance at this,” he said.

The Knicks have the luxury not to rush back forward OG Anunoby, who's averaging 21.4 points per game in the postseason. He sat out with a strained right hamstring and remains day to day.

Joel Embiid scored 18 points for the Sixers in his return after he missed Game 2 with a sprained right ankle and a sore right hip.

"I thought he gave us everything he could," coach Nick Nurse said.

Embiid's return from an appendectomy helped spur the Sixers' rally from a 3-1 deficit in the opening round to stun the Celtics.

Beating the Knicks four straight times — including twice in New York — seems like a much harder hill to climb for Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 22 points and Maxey added 17. Paul George scored 15 points in the first quarter, then went scoreless and missed all nine shots the rest of the game as the Sixers blew a 12-point lead.

George and Maxey each failed to shoot a single free throw.

The 76ers went 13 of 16 from the line while the Knicks made 23 of 32.

“I guess it's good when New York wins,” Embiid said.

The 76ers gamely tried to make it a series. Quintin Grimes hit his first two 3s of the game early in the fourth to trim the lead to 88-84.

The familiar faces in Philly — Brunson, Hart and Bridges all played for Villanova — seized control of the game.

Hart and Bridges made consecutive baskets that pushed the lead to 92-84. Brunson, the stone-cold shooter built for these moments, buried a 3 from the top of the arc that made it 95-86 during a 9-0 Knicks run, to the delight of the visiting fans.

Embiid openly pleaded with fans ahead of the series not to sell their tickets to New Yorkers.

Celebrity Row regulars at Madison Square Garden, Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet, Tracy Morgan and Ben Stiller all made the trip to Philadelphia, along with thousands of less famous Knicks fans — and the split crowd erupted in cheers, boos and the occasional middle finger on just about every basket.

Chalamet rose from his seat and applauded when Landry Shamet buried a late 3 in the third that stretched the lead to 85-76. Shamet had 14 points this entire postseason before he scored 15 in Game 3.

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New York Knicks' fan react during the second half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson reacts during the second half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid reacts after a foul call during the first half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series against the New York Knicks Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' Landry Shamet, left, dunks past Philadelphia 76ers' Tyrese Maxey during the first half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns, left, tries to get past Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid during the first half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson, right, passes against Philadelphia 76ers' Andre Drummond during the first half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson, left, reacts past Philadelphia 76ers' Kelly Oubre Jr. during the first half of Game 3 in a second-round NBA basketball playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — It wasn’t satisfying enough for Buffalo Sabres goalie Alex Lyon to have Viktor Arvidsson’s penalty shot glance off his blocker and deflect wide of the net.

Lyon decided to pile on the forward's grief. He began chirping a few words at Arvidsson following the failed attempt that prevented the Boston Bruins from building on a 1-0 lead in Buffalo's eventual 3-1 win in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

The moment and Lyon’s response, coming in his first career playoff start for Buffalo, captured the fearless and competitive approach the 33-year-old goalie has developed over a journeyman career.

“I think when you’re young, it’s easy to get intimidated by the moment,” Lyon said.

“But once you start thinking about it in terms of the game, it’s about winning and losing at the end of the day. And that’s the only thing I’m trying to do,” he added. “It’s just gamesmanship.”

It’s an attitude that’s earned Lyon the starting duties in taking over after Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen struggled in a 4-2 loss in Game 2 to Boston. Lyon won four of his next five starts, including a 26-save outing in a 4-2 win in Buffalo’s second-round series opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

He and the Sabres took a step back with a 5-1 loss on Friday night. Lyon allowed four goals on 27 shots, and didn't get much support from sloppy defensive play in front of him. Three of the four goals he gave up came off either odd-man rushes or were the result of Sabres turnovers.

It's unclear whether Lindy Ruff will switch goalies for Game 3 at Montreal on Sunday, though the Sabres coach was unhappy with his entire team's performance.

“You can’t beat yourself. We beat ourselves, and we know we have to be better,” Ruff said.

Despite the loss, Lyon still ranks second with a 1.73 goals-against average and .934 save percentage among goalies with four or more playoff starts. And it follows Lyon's first Sabres season in which he went 20-10-4 splitting the starting duties and helping Buffalo end an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought and win its first Atlantic Division title.

Very little appears to rattle Lyon. Or rather, the goalie said, he does his best to hide it.

“It’s all about perception,” Lyon said. “It probably dawned on me five or six years ago, that if you just continue to keep pushing through the bad times, it will always turn around for the better.”

The philosophy has carried him through a nine-year pro career spanning five NHL teams.

Lyon is relentless in refusing to give up on plays even when out of position, and that included him doing a near-somersault to get from one post to the other and get a piece of Morgan Geekie’s shot in the first round. Add in his engaging and upbeat personality, and Lyon has endeared himself to his teammates.

“I really love guys like that, hates to lose and wants their opponents to look bad. I really feed off that,” captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “He loves big moments. That’s when he thrives.”

Ruff called Lyon’s approach “infectious.”

“Every goalie has their own personality, and his personality has a lot of fire in it. He’s a character and it’s something the group likes,” Ruff said. “I don’t even know if I’ve seen him have a bad day.”

Lyon admits to having plenty of bad days. But they come with the territory, much like accepting he’s not going to stop every shot.

From Baudette, Minnesota, Lyon was an undrafted free agent out of Yale upon signing with the Philadelphia Flyers. He went 6-7-2 in five years with Philadelphia, and split the next four seasons between Carolina, Florida and Detroit, where he went 35-27-6 over two seasons.

He went 1-2 in four playoff appearances with Florida’s Stanley Cup Final-losing team in 2023, though Lyon was only filling in for injured starter Sergei Bobrovsky.

San Jose Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky saw many of the same qualities when coaching Lyon with the American Hockey League's Chicago Wolves in 2021-22. The 29-year-old went 9-3 in leading the Wolves to the Calder Cup championship.

“Did not want to give up the net,” Warsofsky told The Associated Press by phone Friday.

“It’s not, obviously, an easy league to play in, but every day he was the same guy,” he added. “It just shows you that everyone develops a little bit differently on different timelines, and sometimes you need an opportunity and he’s gotten a really good opportunity.”

Lyon fondly reflects upon his past by saying playing for numerous teams at various levels helped him learn more about himself. And breaking into the NHL as an older player after years in the minors were lessons in maintaining confidence, adapting to riding the highs and lows, and learning to put team success first.

“It’s really difficult as a young player to not get caught up in the day to day and thinking about production,” Lyon said. “The less you think about that, the less you worry about that, the better things are.”

AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Buffalo Sabres' Alex Lyon makes a save during the third period in Game 4 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Boston Bruins, Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon (34) and center Ryan McLeod (71) celebrate victory following the third period in Game 1 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon makes a save during the third period in Game 1 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)