Knicks' Jalen Brunson has been Mr. 4th Quarter this postseason
Jalen Brunson of the Knicks reacts after a three-point basket in Game 4 of the first round of the NBA Eastern Conference Pllayoffs against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday in Detroit. Credit: Getty Images/Gregory Shamus
In that short window of peace between the chaos of the Knicks’ Game 4 win in Detroit on Sunday and the postgame interviews, Jalen Brunson could be seen quietly walking the hall outside the visitor’s locker room with his daughter, Jordyn, in his arms.
Only 7 months old, Jordyn will never be able to remember her father’s fourth-quarter heroics in the 94-93 victory that gave the Knicks a 3-1 series lead in the first round. But you can bet there will be plenty of people who will want to tell her — and their own children — that they were there to witness the latest chapter of Brunson’s incredible postseason run.
As the Knicks head into Tuesday’s Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, Brunson is averaging 13.3 points in the fourth quarter this postseason.
Brunson, the NBA Clutch Player of the Year, averaged 10.1 points in the fourth quarter of last year’s playoffs.
No one this postseason has come close to that. The nearest is Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, who headed into Monday night’s game against Miami averaging 11.0 points. Boston’s Jayson Tatum is at 10.7, but no one else is at more than 8.8 points.
“He’s gonna take us to the promised land. At the end of the game and that fourth quarter, he’s gonna make those shots, make big plays,” Mikal Bridges said after Game 4. “Just who he’s always been. As much as he’s aggressive, I think a lot of shots are just — you don’t want to lose. I think it’s just his grit to win.”
As far as grit, it’s hard to top what Brunson did in Game 4, especially considering that there was no guarantee that he was even going to be able to be on the floor in the final quarter.
Late in the third quarter, Brunson appeared to be injured when Dennis Schroder landed on his right leg and ankle. It was the very same ankle that caused Brunson to miss a month of the regular season when he sprained it early in March.
Brunson basically crawled off the court to the scorer’s table. He initially had trouble getting to his feet but then limped to the locker room. He returned early in the fourth and then scored 15 of his game-high 32 points in the final 9:31 to help put the Pistons on the brink of elimination.
It marked the third time in this series that Brunson has hobbled to the locker room and then returned to have a big finish. What he does back there remains a relative mystery. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has joked that he picks up his Superman cape. One time, it seemed as if he had changed his sneakers.
In his postgame news conference, Brunson said he never doubted he would find a way to get back on the floor.
“Moments like that, you’ve gotta take a breath, you’ve gotta relax, you’ve gotta think what’s going on,” he said. “And I realized that I just needed to readjust and I made sure I was mentally ready to go back into the game, because I was going back into the game. There really wasn’t a doubt, regardless of if I was stumbling or not.”
Now, with the Pistons fighting for their lives, there is one more feat that Brunson is looking to accomplish Tuesday night at the Garden.
This Knicks team could become the first one this century to close out a playoff series at the Garden. The Knicks fell short in the conference semifinals last season when they lost Game 7 to the Pacers at home, a game in which Brunson suffered a broken hand.
The last time the Knicks won a series clincher at home was June 11, 1999, when a team led by Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston beat the Pacers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
If that happens, Brunson will have another story to tell his daughter.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
