The Knicks are one win away from reaching the NBA Finals. Let’s accord Jalen Brunson the respect he deserves.
Say what you will about whether the New York Knicks have had an easy road through this year’s playoffs. The reality is that the New York Knicks are one win away from the NBA Finals.
That said, the BIG question, the one that has haunted this franchise and its fan base for decades, is this: Can NYK win the NBA championship? Most New York fans would like to believe so, if not simply because the Knicks have been irrelevant for so long. The rest of the basketball world sees it differently: the Knicks have a slim chance in a series against either Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
While it’s always dicey to predict the future, we have plenty of reality on which to make this call: Jalen Brunson deserves more respect for what he has done to get this team here.
Photo courtesy Daily Knicks
There’s a narrative out there that Brunson is not as good as Knicks fans believe he is, and even (among some) that he is a liability in one way or another. Both assertions seem ludicrous to me.
For one thing, while there are many NBA players in the NBA who deserve to be revered, none of them play in New York City … except Jalen Brunson. NYC is a sports center. Madison Square Garden is called the mecca of basketball, the place where players go either to make a name for themselves or to fold under pressure. NYC is make or break.
It’s not debatable that the Knicks have gotten a whole lot better since Brunson arrived in New York. Often he saves his best for when the team needs it most, as he showed (once again) in the current series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Down and seemingly out late in the fourth in Game 1, Brunson put the team on its back and carried it to an incredible OT win. Fast forward to Game 3, and Jalen Brunson’s most impactful points were in a third-quarter run that helped the Knicks extend their lead in the game.
Point blank: Bruson often saves his best work for when his team really needs it or when the moment beckons. Against James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, Brunson was the best player on the court, and that is saying something important. Harden is widely considered one of the top 50 players of all time, and Mitchell is frequently cast as better than Brunson.
It doesn’t take a basketball expert to realize what Jalen Brunson means to this team and what impact he has on this team’s success. While there are plenty of impactful players on the Knicks, Brunson is the unquestioned pulse of this team. It’s why the Knicks’ fans have the right to still chant “MVP” when he stands at the free-throw line.
That’s why I believe that, whether it is the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs, the Knicks have a reasonable chance against either. I say that because three things stand out.
–The Knicks haven’t lost a game since their loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Round One.
–Their margins of victory have been historic.
–The team chemistry is something that most teams dream of. Without it, this team wouldn’t be anywhere close to where it is now. Case in point: it enabled Josh Hart to have that monster outing in Game Two vs. the Cavaliers (26 points on 10-21 shooting in 33 minutes of play).
The irony of it all is this: at numerous times in the season, other teams were picked to come out of the East. Not team one, three teams: the Detroit Pistons, the Boston Celtics (include me on that one), and the Cavaliers. The Knicks, on the other hand, were relegated to the sidelines, with claims that this team “never” has lived up to expectations and won’t this season either.
Bye, Harden! (photo courtesy NY Post)
But today, only one thing is certain: They are here, and they are here now.
That said, it’s always good to look in the rearview mirror because it can help frame why the “now” is as it is. When Dallas traded Jalen Brunson to the Knicks, the Mavericks effectively made him a disposable commodity. But consider the fact that this is the same franchise that traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers and just fired Jason Kidd.
But rather than waste more words on the sorry Mavericks, let’s focus on the here and now in New York.
Jalen Brunson in a Knicks uniform has transformed the franchise from also-ran to a team challenging for the league’s biggest prize, a championship.
