As Jalen Brunson's star rises, Knicks' opponents look for ways to hold his offense down
Jalen Brunson #11 of the Knicks puts up a shot during the third quarter against Draymond Green #23 of Golden State at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
SAN FRANCISCO — As Jalen Brunson talks after the Knicks morning shootaround, adorning his wrist is a silicone bracelet with the words, “The magic is in the work.” He credited his mother, Sandra for providing him with the bracelet. Yet the message is one that he’s heard all his life, from his mother, his father Rick, to the man who would bark it to his father decades ago, Tom Thibodeau.
That they all have convened in one place is a confluence of fate, timing and even a horrific contractual decision by the Dallas Mavericks. However it came about, the result is that Brunson right now is the engine carrying the Knicks — coached by Thibodeau with Rick Brunson at his side as an assistant coach.
Jalen Brunson, who was named as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Monday, is trying to drag the franchise to the finish line without Julius Randle and OG Anunoby. Anunoby was ruled out Monday when the Knicks faced Golden State and Randle still has no timetable for his return.
With 45 and 42 points in the first two stops on this four-game West Coast trip, Brunson has opened eyes in a continuing ascension to new levels of stardom this season. He is just the fourth Knicks player ever to top 40 points in consecutive games (and if he could do it again he would match Bernard King as the only ones with three straight). But against Golden State, it was a test that was as tough as anything he’s faced with Draymond Green expected to take the first turn on defending Brunson.
Green will someday likely earn a Hall of Fame spot based first on his defense and at a muscular 6-6, 230 pounds he might seem an odd choice to guard Brunson. But what Golden State started in the 2022 playoffs when they were able to at least contain Brunson, other teams have begun to attempt to emulate.
“I just have to adjust to situations, just depending on who’s defending,” Brunson said. “You’re always going to have to adjust to what’s going on during a game. I don’t know. It’s all about what’s going on and how you’re adjusting to it.
“Obviously having Draymond it was different. You have to adjust. For me it made me better. It made me understand what I had to work on to be better. One of those things that make you rethink what are you going to do to be better.”
And what did he have to do?
“You work harder,” Brunson said.
That brings us back to the mantra that Brunson has adopted as his own — The magic is in the work. He has lived with it and now still hears it from Thibodeau.
“I laugh. It’s pretty funny,” Brunson said. “Now it’s like second nature the point where you hear it. It’s just ingrained in your mind. I get a lot of joy out of it. I don’t really say it to other people. I say it when I’m talking to the youth, talking about work ethic and stuff like that. But I don’t really need to say it. I just understand.”
He’s heard some better messages from opposing coaches of late as he has moved up to fifth in the NBA in scoring. Sacramento’s Mike Brown, after Brunson’s 42-point effort helped the Knicks beat the Kings, compared his defensive scheming to how they approach Steph Curry.
“I don’t know if, Steph maybe, I don’t know if we blitzed anybody as much as we did Jalen tonight,” Brown said. “Tried to send two at him and he still scored 42 points.”
“It’s amazing,” said Donte DiVincenzo, who recalled watching Brown’s game-planning while he and Brunson were still in college together. “We’re in school watching his finals matchups with Golden State and Cleveland. So then to be in a game where an opposing coach says that, it’s a credit to [Brunson], a credit to his hard work.”
“It’s kind of like an honor to be thought of that way,” Brunson said. “I still have a long way to be where I want to be. And it’s great to hear but I can’t let it affect me any way, positive or negative.”
Notes & quotes: The Knicks switched Anunoby from questionable to out Monday morning with what the team called injury management after he played two games since returning from a surgical procedure on his right elbow.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
