It is not fair to ask under any circumstances. First, it’s clear that something is still wrong with Jalen Brunson’s foot. Second, under the windmill roof at Madison Square Garden, there’s no one who doesn’t know the Indiana Pacers’ game plan is to steal Game 7 on Sunday. It’s something like this:
- Blitz Branson.
- Swarm Branson.
- Halas Brunson.
- Raise Branson to 94 feet.
- Double team Brunson.
5A. Triple Team Branson.
- Attack Branson as much as possible.
- Knock down Branson as much as possible.
- Stop Branson.
As we enter the second half of May, this is what Branson is like right now, so it’s going to happen anyway. He is the decider. He is a decoder. Basketball is a great game because it’s both amazingly complex and painfully simple. And here’s the easy part:
More than any other player on either team, Brunson will be the deciding factor in Game 7. We’ve seen what he has in him when the Knicks need it most. This is the version we often see. If that’s the version of taking to the Garden court after 3:30 p.m., it’s nonetheless very likely that the Knicks will play a basketball game in Boston on Tuesday night.
But as this series progressed, we also learned that the Pacers, through sheer repetition and familiarity, occasionally unraveled the secrets of how to slow Brunson down by focusing all their energy, and all their basketball players, on him. I’ve seen it. By bleeding half the shot clock dry by the time the Knicks offense was able to set up. By forcing Brunson to work hard to make difficult shots, he sometimes misses routine shots.
And most of all, force someone else to beat us.
And the hard truth is this: As this series progresses, the Knicks have fewer and fewer options to identify that person as someone else. OG Anunoby hobbled off the court in Game 2 with a hamstring strain. Josh Hart spent most of Game 6 looking as physically uncomfortable as a basketball player. Deuce McBride and Donte DiVincenzo have been lights out at several points in this series. They also had a scuffle.
The Knicks are not a one-man team.
But on Sunday afternoon, they become a one-man band, with Brunson having to play so many instruments: scoring, passing, controlling the tempo and taking on the inevitable duties or two. And most of all, he serves as the Knicks’ spirit animal, their soul and inspiration. That’s a lot to ask of one player, especially in an elimination game. It’s not easy.
But that’s what Jimmy Dugan might say if Tom Thibodeau asked him to join his Sunday afternoon coaching staff. “If it were easy, everyone would chant ‘M! Vu! Pup! at the foul line.’
“They’re making adjustments,” Brunson said late Friday night after the Pacers tied the series in New York with a 116-103 Game 6 victory. “They’re trying to make things difficult, and I have to make adjustments. I have to get a few different looks, I have to read it better. I can’t be the same person I am for the first 40 minutes of the game.”
Again, the hard truth. If Brunson was who he was for the first 40 minutes of that game, the Pacers, who undoubtedly packed up for a trip longer than a day and a half, would be rolling the dice against the Celtics. East finals. You can’t avoid it. And given the Knicks’ current state of health, it’s possible they could get the same result at just average or slightly above average.
Hart will play through an abdominal strain for most of Friday. Anunoby was upgraded to questionable for Game 7. If they can play, Brunson will have company. If not…
The best players to ever play for the Knicks have always found a way to be their best for the moments when they need it most. In 1970, when the Knicks were struggling in the first round of the playoffs against Baltimore, Willis Reed had an impressive 36 points and 36 rebounds in a crucial Game 5, otherwise the best in Knicks history. It may be remembered as the match. Clyde Frazier had 36 points, 19 assists, and 7 rebounds against the Lakers in Game 7 of the Finals a few weeks later.
In 1984, on one of the loudest nights at the Garden from the early ’70s to the mid-’90s, Bernard King dropped 44 RBIs against the Celtics, refusing to let the Knicks lose and leading the Celtics in Game 7. He claimed that he would move on to the Knicks after winning. title. Then, in 1994, during the greatest of many great moments for the Knicks, Patrick Ewing’s follow-up jam clinched the Knicks’ victory in Game 7 of the East Finals, resulting in an incredible 24-point, 22-rebound game against the Pacers. Concluded.
Knicks fans remember these numbers like they remember the Pledge of Allegiance. That’s what’s on the table in Branson Sunday. That’s the company he can keep. It’s not easy. I doubt he would want it any other way.
captain clutch
Jalen Brunson and the Knicks will face the Pacers on Sunday in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Garden for the first playoff elimination game of the year. The Post looks at how Brunson has performed in each elimination game during his career.
May 12, 2023
Brunson scored nearly half of the Knicks’ points in the season-ending 96-92 loss to the Heat in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. He scored 41 points on 14-of-22 shooting, but a turnover with 16.2 seconds left gave the Knicks a two-point lead, ending his memorable first season in the orange and blue. In typical Brunson fashion, he blamed himself for the loss despite his extraordinary individual effort.
May 10, 2023
Brunson sparked the Knicks’ season with 38 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in a 112-103 Game 5 win over the Heat at the Garden. He played all 48 minutes with a great performance.
May 26, 2022
Brunson’s postseason run ends in a slump. He made just 3 of 10 shots and scored just 10 points as the Warriors ended the Mavericks’ season 120-110 in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. It would be his last game in a Dallas uniform.
May 15, 2022
Brunson shined in Game 7 as the Mavericks defeated the Suns, 123-90. In the lopsided road win, he scored 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting.
May 12, 2022
Brunson, who trailed the Suns 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinals, added 18 points and three steals to help the Mavericks advance to Game 7 with a 113-86 victory.
— Zach Braziler
