After 53 years of not winning the NBA Finals, the New York Knicks have finally reached the top of the mountain … again. There have been great players to come through the team since then, but no one like Jalen Brunson.
Photo courtesy ESPN
Jalen Brunson became a star since leaving Dallas to join the Knicks in the 2022-23 season. Since then, he hasn’t averaged less than 24 points in a season.
This year, he made the biggest impact. For starters, he led the Knicks to their first NBA Cup title and was named Cup MVP. Then came the playoffs, and nobody did more for his team than Brunson.
Down 2-1 versus Atlanta, the Knicks kicked into gear and went on to win the series, beating the Hawks by almost 60 points in the clinching game. That was just a start. NY went on to beat two good teams: the Philadelphia 76ers (the team that had beaten the always-tough Celtics) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (the team that knocked off the Pistons, #1 in the East).
In the Cavs series, the Knicks started the first game horribly, but over the second half, they battled back, winning that game and the next three. With the sweep of the Cavaliers, the Knicks were your Eastern Conference Finals Champions, with Jalen Brunson being awarded the Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
Season not over, Brunson was already a two-time MVP.
But who gave NY a chance against the San Antonio Spurs, the reigning champs and widely considered the best club in the NBA? They got there by beating the Thunder, a team many considered the #2 team in the league.
On paper, it looked like a mismatch. On the court, the story was different, very different. The Knicks claimed the first two games in San Antonio, extending their playoff winning streak to thirteen. Going back to Madison Square Garden with fire in their hearts, Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs took Game 3 in a nail-biter.
OG hits THE shot (photo courtesy USA Today)
Game 4 looked like it was going to go the same way until it didn’t. The Knicks erased a second-half 29-point lead. The Knicks were hitting everything, even circus shots, and kept chipping away at the Spurs’ lead. Then, in the shot of the season, OG Anunoby hit the game-winning tip-in off a Bruson missed three, and pandemonium broke out in Madison Square Garden.
Game 5 arrived, and like clockwork, the Spurs led going into the second half, but you know, it’s not over ’til it’s over. Brunson ended the night with a historic forty-five-point blast, and the Knicks walked off the court as NYC went CRAZY!
Jalen Brunson averaged an amazing 32.6 points in the NBA Finals, but he didn’t win the crown by himself. He had an amazing supporting cast, including Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, and many more.
Still, you must acknowledge his greatness, and the NBA did just that, awarding Brunson the Finals MVP trophy–his third MVP honor of the season.
No matter what team you root for, you can’t deny what Jalen Brunson accomplished this year. Indeed, he deserves to wear the crown as King of New York!
