Frozen in Time
There’s a reason Jalen Brunson walked away with the 2024–25 Clutch Player of the Year. The man has ice in his veins, and somehow, that ice gets even a degree or two colder in crunch time. When the Knicks need a bucket, need a bailout, need a hero? Brunson doesn’t blink. He delivers. Always.
Game Six had all the smoke, just like every chapter in this first-round thriller between Detroit and New York. But there was one caveat to this game. The Knicks came in looking to slam the door shut while the Pistons were swinging for survival, desperate to keep their season on life support for just one more night.
The Knicks started strong, but the Pistons closed out the first half stronger, entering the half with a two-point lead.
After halftime, the Knicks returned to the floor determined not to let the Pistons see a Game Seven. They managed to string together a 27-12 run, and by the end of the third quarter, the Knicks outscored the Pistons 37-24.
Knicks fans thought it was over and were already starting to see Celtic green. But just like every game in this series, the Pistons got scrappy and clawed their way back, tying the game at 103 with approximately six minutes remaining.
Fast forward five wild minutes with multiple lead changes and tensions rising, and suddenly, the Knicks were down 112–111 with under a minute left. Karl-Anthony Towns had just fouled out, leaving New York without its big man and its margin for error. It was gut-check time. And once again, it all came down to Captain Clutch. If the Knicks were gonna dodge a Game Seven and steal a miracle in D-Town, it was going to fall on Captain Clutch.
From the opening tip, Brunson had that look in his eyes like he wasn’t just playing the game—he was owning it. But in those final moments, something wild happened. It was as if the Knicks’ star had leveled up mid-game, possessed by a force bigger than the moment. Think Super Shredder towards the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle II after he drank the secret ooze.
Brunson didn’t just take over; he went full beast mode, bending the game to his will and dragging the Knicks across the finish line. It was as if the Knicks’ star had leveled up mid-game, possessed by a force bigger than the moment.
We can’t overlook the putback by Bridges off of a Brunson miss to tie the score at 113 with 35 seconds remaining, to allow for Knicks history to unfold in a mere thirty seconds.
The Pistons had their chance, but after Cade Cunningham missed the go-ahead lay-up, Josh Hart snatched the board and called timeout with 20.6 on the clock. Just like that, the stage was set for a slice of Knicks history.
Similar to the ’90s Bulls when the play call was to “Give the ball to Michael, and get the hell out of the way”, watching last night’s game-winning shot seemed very reminiscent in more ways than one of Jordan’s many game-winners. The moment didn’t just echo Jordan, it practically mirrored him. From the iso setup to the cold-blooded finish, it was impossible not to think back to MJ’s dagger over Bryon Russell in Game 6 of the ‘98 Finals.
With 20 seconds remaining, Bridges lined up on the sideline to inbound the ball. Brunson immediately caught the inbounds pass along the left sideline and dribbled directly to mid-court to wind the clock down. As MJ once said, in a similar situation with the game tied in under similar circumstances, the Knicks couldn’t lose as long as they took the last shot. If it missed, the worst-case scenario was overtime, but if it goes in, it’s game over.
As the Knicks and Pistons cleared the court for the one-on-one showdown between Brunson and Thomson, Brunson stood at mid-court, back to the basket, as the clock wound down towards triple zeroes.
Photo by Scott Winterton/NBAE via Getty Images
After eight dribbles, Bridges came over to fake the high pick to try and distract Thompson. Brunson, on the other hand, took off to his strong side, took two dribbles, pulled back with a crossover between the legs dribble that left Thompson “Shook” like Mobb Deep in 1995, and left Thompson stuck to watch from the cold Detroit weather outside of Little Caesars Arena. Just like MJ did to Russell, the crossover gave Brunson a wide enough look from 24 feet, he could have shot the ball two times.
Photo by David L. Nemec/NBAE via Getty Images
Brunson rose up. The ball left his fingertips in pure rhythm, and he held his left hand held high in that iconic follow-through, channeling MJ’s pose from ‘98. As the shot arced through the air, 20,000-plus held their breath. Time seemed to have simply frozen as the ball sailed toward the basket. Brunson held his follow-through just like Jordan did, holding his left hand up until the ball hit nothing but net with 4.3 seconds remaining, and just like Captain Clutch had done all season long, he held three fingers up to kiss the Detroit faithful goodbye.