In a league that is increasingly looking for ball-handlers who are 6’6″ or taller, Jalen Brunson‘s scoring mastery makes him something of a modern-day unicorn for the Knicks, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (subscriber link).
“He’s got good pace, and he’s really smart. He doesn’t really get too bored with the game,” said Magic guard Jalen Suggs. “He doesn’t get too bored keeping it simple. He challenges you every possession. He’s one of the best players in our league. I love the fact that we get to play him four times a year. I’ve gotten better from our battles.”
Edwards writes that only seven players currently average more points than Brunson, and of those seven, only two do so at a similar height: Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Maxey, both of whom possess athletic gifts that Brunson cannot replicate. That’s why Edwards calls Brunson pound-for-pound the best scorer in the NBA.
Despite his dominant play, questions have followed him for several years about whether someone his size can lead a team to a championship, but he’s begun to win some believers, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
“No one thought that a team shooting a lot of threes could win a title until Golden State did it,” said Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade. “Charles [Barkley] is always talking about, ‘You can’t win shooting threes.’ So obviously anything is possible. Is it hard? Yes. It’s really, really hard. So that just means for Jalen to be as great as he needs to be, that means everybody else around him needs to get better. … But it is yet to be seen. We’ve got to see it, too.”
We have more from the Knicks:
- The Knicks of this season have proven more resilient than in previous seasons, and much of that is due to new head coach Mike Brown, writes Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. Brown’s insistence on playing with pace has made the team’s offense less predictable, and his emphasis on hitting first in terms of physicality has made the team’s defense less toothless than last season. “I think our physicality is extremely better,” Josh Hart said. “When you’re able to be physical on the perimeter, you’re able to throw teams off what they do and now your defense is more impactful. You can be in passing lanes and do those kinds of things, protect shots at the rim. So I think our physicality is something that’s driving that, and that’s something we have to do.” Winfield notes that between those changes and getting Karl-Anthony Towns to play his best on defense, Brown may be laying the groundwork for a third Coach of the Year campaign.
- The ankle injury to Miles McBride has allowed Tyler Kolek an opportunity to prove that he can be the backup point guard the Knicks need, and Saturday’s win against the Magic was a step in the right direction, Bondy and Jared Schwartz write for the New York Post. He was a team-best plus-17 in his minutes and was in for a key part of the game at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, when the Knicks took control. “Tyler did a fantastic job today, our young fella, of impacting winning,” Towns said. “He did that on a big stage tonight. I think one of his finest games as an NBA player was tonight, and may not show up on the stats sheet, but everybody in our locker room knows how important he was to us tonight.”
- The Knicks are trying to prove that they belong among the NBA’s true contenders, and Tuesday’s matchup against the Spurs in the NBA Cup Finals will be a key battleground for them to do so, writes Steve Popper for Newsday. The Spurs knocked off the league-best Thunder in their Semi-Final matchup and have managed to hold onto the fourth-best record in the Western Conference despite having a core group of players that skew very young. Popper writes that a disappointing performance could give the Knicks an indication heading into trade season that some adjustments to the roster might be needed to secure a spot in the top echelon.