Towns scored 20 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter as New York erased yet another 20-point deficit, and Brunson helped close out the 106-100 victory Sunday night to take Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals — making it three straight wins for the road team.
“It’s a true test when you’re down 20-plus,” Towns said. “Tonight was the kind of night where he had to have that never-say-die attitude.”
New York still trails in the series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Tuesday night in Indianapolis.
“They put me in great spots to succeed, and I just wanted to capitalize on the opportunity,” Towns said after also grabbing 15 rebounds.
“All of us are just trying to do whatever it takes to win, get ourselves back in the game. We wanted to put ourselves in a position to where at the end of the game we found ourselves with a chance of winning.”
But after rallying twice from fourth-quarter deficits to take the first two games in New York, and losing their top defender, Aaron Nesmith, with a sprained right ankle in the third quarter, Indiana failed to seal this one.
Nesmith returned in the fourth quarter but coach Rick Carlisle said he wouldn’t know more about Nesmith’s chances to play Game 4 until Monday.
“Regardless of who’s out there, we’ve got to be able to attack better and do the things to maintain it and finish the game,” he said. “We just simply did not execute as well as we needed to.”
