Jalen Brunson does so much for Knicks, but more is needed
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson walks off the court at the end of Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers in an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Friday, May 10, 2024, in Indianapolis. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
INDIANAPOLIS
In so many ways, it seems unfair to demand more out of Jalen Brunson.
No player in these playoffs has meant more to his team this season than Brunson. He has carried the Knicks game after game in the regular season and postseason. He has given the franchise the kind of leadership it hasn’t seen in a generation and has given fans the kind of heroic moments that they will talk about for decades.
The Knicks wouldn’t be up 2-1 in their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Pacers without Brunson. With All-Star Julius Randle missing a good chunk of the regular season, it’s likely they wouldn’t be in the playoffs at all if not for Brunson.
Without their floor leader, the big event for Knicks fans on Sunday would be the 3 p.m. NBA lottery, not their 3:30 p.m. game against the Pacers.
Despite all of this, Brunson is going to have to give the Knicks more than he did in Game 3 for them to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
Brunson, who injured his right foot in Game 2, did not seem like himself in the Knicks’ 111-106 Game 3 loss Friday night. He finished with 26 points — eight points under his playoff average — and six assists and shot 10-for-26 from the field.
What hurt the Knicks most, however, was his play at the end of the game, a time when Brunson has given us so many heroics.
Andrew Nembhard had just stunned practically everyone by hitting a 31-foot three-pointer with the shot clock expiring to give the Pacers a 109-106 lead with 17.8 seconds left. Coming out of the ensuing timeout, Brunson received the inbounds pass, and he wasted no time. He took one dribble, stepped between defenders Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith and threw up an off-balance, off-the-mark three-pointer as he unsuccessfully tried to draw the foul.
There had been plenty of time on the clock to look for a better shot. Instead, Brunson’s air ball was grabbed by Ben Sheppard and the Pacers closed out the game for their first win of the series.
“It’s a terrible decision and something I need to learn from,” Brunson said during his postgame news conference. “I knew the time. I knew everything that was going on. I just made a terrible decision.”
It wasn’t the only mistake the Knicks made down the stretch. A team that prides itself on beating opponents to the glass let the Pacers get a key offensive rebound on the possession in which Nembhard hit the game-winner.
To lose it the way the Knicks did was a heartbreaker, given that on some levels, they had no business being in the game. Missing OG Anunoby, who strained a hamstring in Game 2, the Knicks entered the game with only seven players on their roster who had more than a minute of playoff experience.
Brunson refused to let his foot injury be any kind of excuse for his play.
“If I’m out there, I’m playing,” he said. “There’s no excuse, whether I’m hurting or not. If I’m hurting, I’ll come out.”
The good news for the Knicks is that despite all those injuries and despite the fact that Brunson clearly was not himself, the Knicks led by nine points early in the fourth quarter and were in a position to win the game until the final seconds.
The Knicks had the Pacers on the ropes heading into Game 3. They need to not let Indiana make that win into a turning point. They need Brunson to summon his inner Brunson and come up big in Game 4.
Fair ask or not.
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.