DETROIT — To really understand just how confident Jalen Brunson is, let’s take a trip back to February, in Memphis, when yet another New York Knicks game hung in the balance. Surely Knicks fans remember it, if for nothing more than a unique moment between a star player and coach.
The Grizzlies led New York by two with under 30 seconds remaining. Brunson, with a chance to give his team control of the game, broke the half-court line and dribbled right. A screen from Josh Hart gave him a sliver of space, and Brunson, the man known as “Captain Clutch,” drilled the shot.
Memphis called a timeout as soon as the ball tickled the twine. Brunson, with no hesitation, turned around and crouched ever so slightly, his arms extended and his fingers pointing at his head coach, Tom Thibodeau. In Thibodeau fashion, the coach waved his arm and turned to walk toward the bench, as if he were dismissing his star player.
That wasn’t the case. It was an inside moment between the two, one that Brunson said he didn’t want to share until a later date.
That date is now. Brunson, yet again, put together a clutch masterclass, this time in the playoffs, to give the Knicks a 3-1 series lead over the Pistons on Sunday. “Today is the day,” I told him postgame. He smiled and turned around.
“Thibs came up to me (before the shot) and said, ‘What do you want to run?’” Brunson recalled. “I told him, ‘It doesn’t matter. Do you want a 2 or a 3?’ We kept going back and forth. Finally, I said, ‘A 2 or a 3?’ He said, ‘A 3.’
“So I went for 3, made it and pointed at him.”
On the surface, sure, there isn’t much to it. Brunson was having a moment with someone he’s known since his childhood. Dig deeper, though, and it’s a peek into the psyche of someone as confident in what he does as anyone walking the Earth.
Brunson sent another reminder to the world Sunday, when he scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to help New York escape Detroit with a 1-point victory. Brunson, who was named the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year last week, has so many game-winning and go-ahead shots this season that anyone who says they remember them all is lying. At this point, opponents are better off losing by 20 to the Knicks than having Brunson rip hope from their chest and stomp on it when things appear to be going good.
Game 4 in Detroit, however, was different.
For starters, it was unclear if Brunson would even be on the floor in the game’s final 12 minutes. Late in the third quarter, Brunson, who missed a month with an ankle sprain he suffered in early March, had his injured ankle rolled on by Dennis Schröder. Brunson crawled to the scorer’s table in pain, just to get out of the way. When he tried to get up, he fell back down, in clear agony. A few minutes later, he was able to hobble to the back, and a few minutes after that, he emerged with a clean walk, as if a die-hard Knicks fan flew to Detroit and donated their perfectly working ankle to their basketball savior.
“I know if he can walk, he’s going to play, he’s going to compete,” Hart said.
The same way Knicks fans feel about Trae Young, Pistons fans showed great disdain for New York’s star player throughout Games 3 and 4. It started in Game 2, when Detroit fans felt Brunson was playing to get fouled more than he was playing to win the game. When Brunson arrived inside Little Caesars Arena for Game 3, boos rained down. They continued every time he touched the basketball — unless fans were chanting “F— you, Brunson!” The Pistons faithful toggled back and forth between both.
Detroit was a hostile environment, yet Brunson navigated it all.
The Knicks won both games in Detroit, setting up a potentially series-ending Game 5 on Tuesday in New York. Brunson showed that he can dominate a game without needing to sell his body to get to the free-throw line. Brunson and his father, Rick, who is an assistant coach on Thibodeau’s staff, shared a moment at half court when the clock struck zero. Rick Brunson, the father, had to sit there as 20,000 people cursed his family name. Rick Brunson, the coach, had to ignore the noise and aid his son in getting the job done.
At the end of a hostile work trip, Brunson — pick one — got the last laugh.
“It’s different,” Jalen Brunson said when asked if his fourth-quarter heroics in Detroit felt better than previous instances. “I wouldn’t say it’s sweeter, but it’s definitely different. I’m just happy we came away with the win. My teammates got my back, coaching staff has my back, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
