Stephen A. Smith fully credits Knicks for 20-point comeback despite Jalen Brunson’s primary defender’s injury

The New York Knicks and Jalen Brunson looked out of sorts early in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday. They struggled to keep up with the Indiana Pacers’ physicality and up-tempo offense.

Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride and Karl-Anthony Towns all got into foul trouble in the first half, and they trailed by as many as 20 at one point. That’s why a comeback seemed improbable, but just like we’ve seen in the first two games of the series, neither of these teams was willing to throw in the towel. The Knicks eventually won the game 106-100.

With that in mind, ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith claimed that as much as Aaron Nesmith’s injury took a toll on the Pacers’ defense, he still needed to give some Knicks a lot of credit for their comeback.

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"It was more about a Knicks comeback (than a Pacers collapse), because even though Nesmith went down and that obviously compromises the Indiana Pacers, the fact is that the New York Knicks didn't look good at all, they were down 20 in the first half, they didn't seem to have any kind of cohesion whatsoever, I have to give a boatload of credit to some people," Smith said.

Smith tipped his hat to Towns for taking matters into his own hands when Brunson was on the bench. He also praised McBride for his strong offensive performance off the bench.

More importantly, he tipped his hat to Tom Thibodeau for finally trusting his bench when it mattered the most.

Jalen Brunson tips his hat to the Indiana Pacers

The New York Knicks are right back in the mix and avoided falling to a 0-3 deficit. Their 106-100 win forced at least another game, and they will look to even things up in Game 4 on Tuesday.

When asked about the comeback, Jalen Brunson had nothing but praise for his opponents, adding that neither team is going to back down regardless of the situation:

"Both teams are going to continue to fight to the buzzer," Brunson told the media after the win. "Got a lot of respect for them over there. We just have to keep playing our style of basketball and keep grinding it out."

We've seen three big-time comebacks in as many games in this series, and the following games shouldn't be any different. This has been an old-school fight between two resilient teams that will play hard on every single possession.

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About the author

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto's all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto's second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto's favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela -- his country -- took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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