As the game enters crunch time, Jalen Brunson routinely raises the game.
Now he is recognized for that.
He was awarded the NBA Clutch Player of the Year Award. It was announced on Wednesday night.
He beat two other finalists, Anthony Edwards and Nicola Jokic.
Branson is just the third recipient of the award created in 2023.
De’aaron Fox was the first recipient, and Steph Curry won it last year.
Branson scored 156 points on the clutch. This is defined as the final five minutes of a game where the regular season score differential is 5 points or less.
However, Branson scored 51.5% from the clutch field, compared to Edwards’ 42.6%.
Branson also recorded 28 assists in the clutch, making him the third in the league.
Does he enjoy playing the most in the fourth quarter?
“Whatever you need to win,” Branson said recently. “I’m not really thinking about it. I know that everything is a time when it really matters. It really matters.”
However, he has had mixed results this postseason.
Throughout the first two games of the Knicks’ first round series with the Pistons heading 1-1 towards Detroit, he has a total of four points in the clutch, with three shots from the field along with one assist.
