Entering Game 3 with a 2-0 lead against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks All-Star Jalen Brunson is two wins away from capturing his first championship. Knicks fans are excited to host the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years. After watching Brunson and the Knicks outplay the Defensive Player of the Year and the Spurs down the stretch in Game 2’s 105-104 nail-biting victory, fans were reminded about Jalen’s experience in high-pressure situations that date back to his high school days.
Brunson, who was a nervous wreck before winning the state championship his senior year, has found ways to ease his anxiety in pressured situations on and off the basketball court, he said, per The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III.
“It’s all about being able to say you gave it everything you got,” said Brunson, who told me the most nervous he’s ever been was his wedding day and on draft day because of the unknown of where he’d be living and playing, about his thoughts on failure. “Knowing that sometimes you might not get the end result you want, but you know you gave it everything you got. Just control what you can control. If you go out there, put all the preparation and the work in, do everything you can, and you live with the results.”
When Brunson agreed to a four-year, $104 million contract in 2022, it gave the Knicks, who believed him to be a franchise cornerstone. It was also a familiar team to his dad, Rick Brunson, who played three seasons with the Knicks, including 1999, his first with the team, which was the last time New York reached the Finals.
“I view pressure … my dad, he was in the league on 10-day contracts and non-guaranteed deals,” Brunson said of his father, Rick, a Knicks assistant coach, who played nine NBA seasons for eight different teams. “Being able to see that, and getting older and seeing what he had to do (for his family to live), I have it easy.”
Starting point guard Chris Childs missed most of the 1998-99 season due to injuries, which led to Charlie Ward starting and created an opportunity for Rick Brunson, who extended his nine-year career by maximizing his chances. 23 years later, his son, Jalen Brunson, did the same after the Knicks inked him to a max deal that trumped the Dallas Mavericks’ offer.
Generational wealth is life-changing for NBA players. $100 million contracts were rare in the late 90s and early 2000s. However, Brunson has a legacy that he’s still building on. In only his fourth season with the Knicks, Brunson has led his team to back-to-back victories on the NBA’s brightest stage — the same undersized guard who led Villanova to two national titles in college.
Brunson adapts to pressure, and it has translated into the NBA amidst his prime years. Leading the Knicks to a 14-point comeback win in the series opener and a one-point victory in Game 2, he is on the doorstep of the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Finals pressure pivots to Victor Wembanyama, Spurs ahead of Game 3
Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) defends New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden
Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama burst into tears after beating the Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Watching the league’s back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and All-Star Chet Holmgren win their first championship fueled Wembanyama in 2025-26. Amid his MVP race against Gilgeous-Alexander, he led the Spurs to the upper echelon of the Western Conference standings, finishing with the second-best regular-season record (62-20) in the NBA.
Only the reigning champions finished 2.0 games ahead of Wembanyama and the Spurs. And against that dominant Thunder squad, only the Spurs handed them multiple losses, four in five tries, to be exact, during the regular season. Wembanyama entered the Western Conference Finals with all the confidence in the world. From commissioner Adam Silver handing Gilgeous-Alexander the 2026 MVP award before Game 1 to tears streaming down his face after Game 7, Wembanyama and the Spurs wanted it more than the Thunder.
Sure, the defending champions, missing All-NBA forward Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for most of the best-of-7 series, weren’t whole. No one can say with certainty that the Spurs would have still won against a completely healthy Thunder team. However, NBA fans would agree that the Spurs were the most deserving, given their effort, talent, and execution. Still, the job’s not finished.
Meanwhile, the Knicks, amid their 53-year gap from their last championship, have spent the past three seasons trying to get over the hump. With the 2024 champion Celtics constantly standing in their way, the Knicks’ devastating 4-2 loss to the Pacers in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals taught them that reaching the ultimate goal takes more than beating your arch nemesis. In the final minute of Game 2, Wembanyama buckled under the pressure to tie the series, 1-1. His critical turnover decided the outcome of the game.
It’s an error he can only blame himself for. However, how will Wembanyama respond in his first road game of the NBA Finals? How will the Defensive Player of the Year reach to find the same motivation he carried into the Western Conference Finals? He doesn’t despise Brunson and the Knicks the same way he feels about Holmgren, Gilgeous-Alexander, and the Thunder.
He’s festered those feelings for years. From losing to Holmgren and Team USA after leading France to the gold medal game of the FIBA U19 World Cup in Riga, Latvia, to the constant comparison as top picks in the 2022 and 2023 NBA Drafts, Wembanyama finally got his lick back. Then, as runner-up to Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP, Wemby got the last laugh and couldn’t contain his emotions. But the hate isn’t mutual. There’s no universe where we would have watched SGA, Holmgren, or any Thunder player in tears after winning the WCF.
Eliminating the Thunder meant way more to Wembanyama than anyone else. But now he’s up against a different beast. Jalen Brunson and the Knicks are fighting to make history. Two wins shy of a title, Brunson hasn’t smiled once. He’s too focused to let up.
And if Wembanyama leads the Spurs back into the series with the risk of reaching the brink of elimination in Game 3, he’s going to have to want it more than Brunson and the Knicks in front of 19,812 screaming fans at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
Entering Game 3 with a 2-0 lead against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks All-Star Jalen Brunson is two wins away from capturing his first championship. Knicks fans are excited to host the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years.