Jalen Brunson defines Knicks’ dramatic transformation into contenders
Jalen Brunson is the Knicks, and the Knicks are him.
nypost.com
If anyone watched him against the Hall this is not that surprising.
Jalen Brunson is the Knicks, and the Knicks are him.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said precisely that about Jimmy Butler during the playoffs last spring, and that quote feels completely applicable to the massive impact Brunson, the first-time All-Star point guard, is having as the Knicks continue to zoom up the Eastern Conference standings with nine straight wins entering Saturday’s game against the Lakers.
“A lot of guys play the game of basketball in this league. He competes to win. That’s a different language,” Spoelstra said of Butler after the eighth-seeded Heat defeated the top-seeded Bucks in the first round of the playoffs last spring. “He’s desperate and urgent and maniacal and sometimes psychotic about the will to try to win.
“He’ll make everybody in the building feel it. And that’s why he is us and we are him.”
Julius Randle also was named an All-Star for the third time in four years, giving the Knicks two players headed to the league’s showcase in-season event for the first time since 2013, although the power forward will need to be replaced on the East roster due to his dislocated right shoulder.
Tom Thibodeau, meanwhile, was named the East’s top coach in January with the Knicks posting a 14-2 mark amid various injuries, and the team’s supporting players absolutely have stepped up in those absences.
Still, no one defines the Knicks’ transformation into legitimacy and their return to league relevancy more than Brunson, as a player, a competitor, a leader and the team’s unquestioned engine.
Just as Butler fulfills all of those traits with the Heat, who ousted the Knicks in the second round of the 2023 playoffs on their way to a loss in the NBA Finals to the Nuggets.
Thibodeau, who coached Butler with the Bulls and the Timberwolves, was an assistant when Brunson’s father, Rick, played for the Knicks, bridging the new millenium.
Rick Brunson has been a member of Thibs’ coaching staffs in Chicago, Minnesota and New York — meaning Thibodeau has known Jalen Brunson for most of the point guard’s life.
“It’s surreal. I think back to when he was a kid coming here in the ’90s, and you never know,” Thibodeau said after Brunson scored 40 points in the undermanned Knicks’ win Thursday over the Pacers. “You knew he was a great kid. He’s always had that. And he was funny and he was entertaining and he made everyone laugh, but he was so serious, even then, whether he was doing an imitation of Latrell Sprewell or Allan Houston or Larry Johnson or Patrick [Ewing]. And he had it spot-on. He was, like, 6 and he had all their moves down.
“And then following him through high school and then Villanova and then his pro career, each step of the way, there’s always been naysayers. And he always proves them wrong.”
Brunson won two NCAA titles at Villanova, and he spent the first four seasons of his career with the Mavericks, averaging 11.9 points, 4.5 assists and 24.7 minutes over 277 games.
Joined on the Knicks’ roster by former Villanova teammates Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Ryan Arcidiacono, Brunson has moved into the top 10 in scoring in the NBA this season at 27.1 points per game, with a career-high 6.4 assists while shooting a career-best 41.7 percent from 3-point range.
The undying adoration and mounting “MVP” chants at MSG actually feel justified suddenly.
“What a feeling it was [Thursday] night being able to see Jalen being announced as [an All-Star] during starting lineups,” Arcidiacono posted Friday on X, formerly Twitter. “Felt like a proud older brother lol. The kid just works and deserves all the love he is getting.”
The Knicks’ defensive effort and rebounding also were stellar Thursday night, but Brunson essentially refused to let his team lose — even with Randle, Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby and Quentin Grimes sidelined by injuries against the improved Pacers, another team among the top-six playoff positions in the East.
Brunson, who has netted at least 30 points in eight of his last 10 appearances, scored 11 over the final 6:45, including a game-tying 3-pointer.
He even took a smack to the face late in the fourth quarter without a foul called by the officials.
“The thing that I love about what he does is he just keeps competing,” Thibodeau said. “They were very aggressive in terms of double-teaming, and he didn’t stop moving and he found ways to get the ball back and make plays.
“He scored. He distributed. He just kept going. You just love his competitiveness. He never goes away. The mental part is so, so good, and you can say that for the team. And obviously we’re thrilled about him becoming an All-Star.”
