Jalen Brunson’s 48 minutes of fame keep Knicks alive against Heat

NEW YORK — Considering the source, Jalen Brunson received the ultimate compliment.

Tom Thibodeau has “never seen anyone work the way he does.” And to work more than Brunson did Wednesday would not even be possible.

With his season on the line, the New York Knicks point guard played every millisecond of a Game 5 112-103 victory, which pulled his team within one win of the Miami Heat, who lead the second-round playoff series 3-2.

Brunson had no idea this was coming. Thibodeau never asked him if he could play 48 consecutive minutes of postseason basketball. The coach just knew.

“If he needed a (rest), he would’ve told me,” Thibodeau said. “This time of the year, you’re gonna see guys get big minutes. He conditions. The thing I love about him is you prepare yourself for that.”

And the Heat couldn’t have anticipated what was coming their way, either.

The magic of Brunson’s performance wasn’t just that he never dipped when his team needed him most. In fact, he wasn’t even the only Knicks player to go for all 48. Quentin Grimes did it, too, and he did it while guarding Miami star Jimmy Butler for much of the way. Grimes finished with eight points and five much-needed assists.

The magic wasn’t even that Brunson flowed through all 48 as if he were just coming off the bench, slicing into the paint with just as much ease in the fourth quarter as he did in the first. It wasn’t just the lack of drama, either. There were no “cut my eye” moments, no spectacles ripped from your corniest Disney sports movies.

It was the way he controlled the game.

It was the efficient 38 points to go with nine rebounds and seven assists. It was the fouls he drew. It was the way he muscled Heat guard Gabe Vincent while bodying his way to the rim. On one play, Brunson actually got fouled twice — once by Vincent, who slapped him on a floater, and another time by Miami guard Kyle Lowry, who crashed into him on his landing. Brunson made the shot anyway.

The Knicks, down three games to one entering the evening, needed a magician. A loss would have ended their season. And their leader took the floor holding a wand.

“What can you say about the guy?” Thibodeau said. “He’s just incredible.”

The Knicks fell down 24-14 through one period, when many of the fourth-quarter problems from Game 4 seeped into the beginning of Wednesday’s match. The Heat once again wrecked the Knicks on the glass. They grabbed six offensive rebounds and scored 13 second-chance points just in the first quarter. New York turned the ball over seven times in the first, too. It committed too many offensive fouls.

But a mishmash of reserves and starters — which, of course, included the tireless Brunson — went on an 18-2 run to begin the second period. That’s when the Knicks took control. And it wasn’t just because of their floor general.

Obi Toppin entered at that point and changed the pace of the night after the offense stalled with Julius Randle…