Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart stood at the scorer’s table, watching the Detroit Pistons extend their lead in the closing minutes of Game 5 and waiting to check in, waiting for the chance to try to turn the tide.

Brunson could not re-enter for the stretch run, when he so often thrives. It cost the Knicks the opportunity to close out this series, which shifts to Detroit for Game 6.

I don’t have an answer to that because I have to rewatch it,” a perplexed Karl-Anthony Towns said of the lack of Brunson and Hart, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “There was a lot going on when all that happened,