The New York Knicks are eight wins away from their first championship in 53 years.
Don’t ask Jalen Brunson about anything else.
The two-time All-NBA and three-time All-Star point guard held his media availability on Wednesday, and he was asked whether he took not having the ball in his hands as a “slight.” Brunson looked totally unmoved as the off-camera reporter asked his question before delivering a mic drop.
“One, I’m not a star. Two, I want to win,” Brunson said curtly.
I would politely push back on Brunson’s self-assessment. He is objectively a star. He’s the biggest star the Knicks have employed since Carmelo Anthony a decade ago, and he is arguably a bigger star because his individual greatness has translated into wins in a way Anthony’s did not.
Brunson is far and away the best playoff performer to grace Madison Square Garden in decades. According to FS1’s “First Things First,” Brunson has averaged 29.9 points and 6.9 assists on 46% shooting from the floor and 35.6% shooting from three in 41 games across the past three postseasons. Those numbers are nearly identical to reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s in the same time frame.
Brunson’s dismissal of his own star power is what has made him a giant in New York, the city of stone-cold hustlers. It’s also probably why the Knicks have won seven straight playoff games and look better than ever. Knicks head coach Mike Brown has been credited with bringing offensive elements over from his time as an associate head coach with the Golden State Warriors - almost positionless, with Karl-Anthony Towns operating as a point center. But none of it works without Brunson.
If the Knicks can finish the job and win it all, their decision to sign a relatively under-the-radar Brunson, who started his career with the Dallas Mavericks, in June 2022, will go down as one of the savviest moves in NBA history.
The Knicks completed their dominant sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers by winning Game 4, 144-114, on Sunday. They will face the Cleveland Cavaliers or Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals next week - the Knicks’ second straight Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
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