‘COOL MVP CHANTS SPUR BRUNSON

He ignores injury as Knicks enjoy huge third quarter to open up 2-O lead over Pacers

- 

At half-time in game 2 of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference semi-finals on May 8, the crowd at the Madison Square Garden chanted "MVP! MVP!" when Jalen Brunson started to warm up again.

The New York Knicks guard, however, tried his best to block out the noise, and the pain in his body, to remain focused.

"It was really cool to hear, but I just knew that I had to get my mind in the right place to figure out how I was going to attack the second half," he said on ESPN.

That worked as he eventually shrugged off injury to spark a sensational second-half fightback, as the Knicks battled past the Indiana Pacers 130-121 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven play-off series.

The New York talisman gave his team a huge scare after suffering a foot issue in the first quarter which forced him to sit out the remainder of the half.

Indiana exploited Brunson's absence to open up a 10-point advantage by half-time and were soon 12 points up in the third quarter after an early Andrew Nembhard lay-up.