Jalen Brunson fouls out in Knicks’ Game 5 nightmare: ‘Five fouls in one quarter?’

BOSTON — Jalen Brunson didn’t want to talk about it.

He entered the third quarter of the Knicks’ 127-102 loss to the Celtics Wednesday night at TD Garden with zero fouls. He was subbed out with 2:45 left in the quarter with five fouls.

“Five fouls in one quarter? I don’t know what you want me to say to that,” Brunson said. “I’m not even gonna say anything. I’m sorry.”

The Knicks were outscored 32-17 in that third quarter when Brunson picked up the five fouls. Brunson had just two points in the quarter.

With the Knicks trailing 91-76, coach Tom Thibodeau put Brunson back in the game to start the fourth quarter. He only made it to the 7:19 mark before committing his sixth foul and fouling out.

When the TD Garden jumbotron showed Brunson on the bench after fouling out, he put on a sarcastic smile and waved to the crowd.

“I just felt that the game — if we were going to have a chance it was going to be right there,” Thibodeau said of his decision to put Brunson back in the game to start the fourth quarter with five fouls.

Thibodeau pushed back on the notion that the game was officiated differently in the second half compared to the first.

“No, it’s one of those games where we had 40 [free throws], they had a lot as well,” Thibodeau said. “It was a choppy game. I think that was also reflective of the aggression.”

Jalen Brunson reacts after he fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 127-102 Game 5 blowout loss to the Celtics on May 14, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

Brunson finished with 22 points on 7-for-17 shooting from the field along with six assists. He only had two games with fewer than 22 points the entire postseason.

He and the other Knicks starters — Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns — have gotten torched by the Celtics starters throughout the series.

It’s often been when Mitchell Robinson or Miles McBride enter the game off the bench when the Knicks go on runs.

“Well, first, talk about who we’re playing,” Brunson said. “Let’s talk about the Celtics — the defending champs, a team with a lot of experience, a team that, obviously, we’ve seen what they’ve been able to do the past couple years. Obviously, they won last year. … You gotta understand who we’re facing. And we need to be better, flat out. That’s what that means.”