Jalen Brunson is the Knicks and the Knicks are him.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said exactly that about Jimmy Butler during last spring’s playoffs. That statement feels perfectly applicable to the huge impact Brunson, a first-time All-Star point guard, is having as the Knicks continue to climb up the Eastern Conference standings. They have climbed into the standings heading into Saturday’s game against the Lakers on a nine-game winning streak.
“A lot of guys are playing the game of basketball in this league. He’s competing to win. That’s a different word,” Spoelstra said of the eighth-seeded Heat in the first round of the playoffs last spring. He talked about Butler after beating the top-seeded Bucks. “He is desperate, urgent, crazy and sometimes psychotic in his will to win.
“He’s going to make everyone in the building feel that. That’s why he is us and we are him.”
Julius Randle was also named an All-Star for the third time in four years, giving the Knicks two players to play in the league’s showcase in-season event for the first time since 2013, but the East will need a change at power forward. . He dislocated his right shoulder and was removed from the group.
Meanwhile, Tom Thibodeau was named the East’s top coach in January, the Knicks have gone 14-2 despite various injuries, and the team’s supporting players have definitely stepped up during his absence.
Still, as a player, a competitor, a leader, and the team’s unquestioned driving force, no one has defined the Knicks’ transformation into legitimacy and return to the league more than Brunson.
Just as Butler ticks all of these boxes with the Heat, who beat the Knicks in the second round of the 2023 playoffs en route to losing to the Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
Thibodeau, who coached Butler with the Bulls and Timberwolves, served as an assistant when Brunson’s father, Rick, played for the Knicks and brought him into the new millennium.
Rick Brunson was a member of Tis’ coaching staffs in Chicago, Minnesota and New York. That means Thibodeau has known Jalen Brunson for most of the point guard’s life.
“It’s surreal. It reminds me of when he was a kid coming here in the 1990s and you never know,” Brunson said after scoring 40 points in Thursday’s game against the underdog Knicks and Pacers. , Thibodeau said. “You knew he was a great kid. He always had that. And he was funny, funny and made everyone laugh, but Latrell Sprewell and Alan Houston, Even though he was imitating Larry Johnson and Patrick, he was still very serious. [Ewing]. And he got it right. He was about 6 years old and had all his hands down.
“Then through high school, Villanova, and his pro career, there were always naysayers at every step of the way. And he always proves them wrong.”
Brunson won two NCAA titles at Villanova and spent the first four seasons of his career with the Mavericks, averaging 11.9 points, 4.5 assists and 24.7 minutes in 277 games.
Brunson, who joins former Villanova teammates Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Ryan Arcidiacono on the Knicks’ roster, ranks among the NBA’s top 10 scorers this season with 27.1 points per game, a career-high. He had 6.4 assists and a career shot. -Best 41.7 percent from 3-point shooting.
The endless adoration of MSG and the growing “MVP” voice actually feels vindicated all of a sudden.
“What a feeling! [Thursday] The night got to see Jaylen announced as [an All-Star] When I was in the starting lineup.” Arcidiacono posted on Friday on X, formerly Twitter. “I felt like a proud older brother (laughs). This kid is just working and he deserves all the love he’s getting.”
The Knicks’ defensive effort and rebounding were impressive Thursday night, but Brunson essentially refused to let his team lose — even with Randle, Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby and Quentin Grimes out with injuries. Regardless, even against the strengthened Pacers, another team in the top six, the East’s playoff position.
Brunson, who has scored at least 30 points in eight of his past 10 games, had 11 points in the final 6 minutes, 45 seconds, including the game-winning 3-pointer.
Late in the fourth quarter, he was slapped in the face without a foul from the referee.
“What I like about what he does is he just keeps competing,” Thibodeau said. “They were very aggressive in terms of double teams and he just kept moving and finding ways to get the ball back and make plays.
“He scored. He distributed. He just kept going. You love his competitive spirit. He never leaves. The mental part is very good and it’s good for the team. And obviously we’re excited for him to be an All-Star.”
