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)

PHILADELPHIA — 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 109-94 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.

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.

Cavs struggling

CLEVELAND — James Harden isn’t worried that the Cleveland Cavaliers have dropped the first two games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Detroit Pistons.

The results suggest Harden and his teammates should be alarmed going into Game 3 on Saturday in Cleveland.

“It’s 2-0. They do what they did at home, so we get an opportunity to go home and do what we’re supposed to do,” Harden said after the Cavaliers’ 107-97 loss on Thursday night.

In each of the games against the Pistons, the Cavaliers struggled with slow starts in the first quarter, only to rally and then collapse down the stretch. And those performances have increased scrutiny on Harden, who was acquired at the trade deadline to help Cleveland get beyond the second round for the first time since 2018.

If the Cavs fall short of that goal, one reason will be Harden’s propensity for turnovers.

The 17-year veteran and 2018 NBA MVP has more turnovers than field goals in four of Cleveland’s nine playoff games, including the first two against Detroit.