Knicks' Jalen Brunson worthy of MVP consideration
The Knicks' Jalen Brunson pauses during player introductions before an NBA game against the Bucks on Sunday in Milwaukee. Credit: AP/Aaron Gash
CHICAGO — When the subject of All-Stars or awards is raised, Tom Thibodeau always has maintained that if the team is successful, those things will follow. And in the case of Jalen Brunson, as the Knicks have followed him on the road to a remarkable season, success and awards may come hand-in-hand.
As the Knicks take the floor at the United Center on Tuesday, the season is down to four games and the Knicks' fate is in their own hands — Brunson’s hands, really — with the assurance that they could finish no lower than third if they win out, and the chance to clinch a top-six spot Tuesday.
Brunson was named an All-Star for the first time two months ago, silencing critics one by one throughout the season. He almost certainly will earn his first All-NBA honor when this season is over and has begun to find his name whispered in conversations for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. He's unlikely to finish among the top three, but even reaching the top 10 in votes is an amazing jump from where he began.
And Brunson’s response?
“Means nothing to me,” he said.
His teammates, including those who have known him the longest, beg to differ.
“It’s incredible,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “I’m proud of him. But it’s also well-deserved. He puts in the work. You see guys get their name mentioned with other great players in the league, it’s a credit to him, but it’s also what type of person he is. It means a little bit more for everybody around him.”
In the final ESPN straw poll of 100 NBA media members this season, Brunson ascended to sixth in the voting, including three third-place votes. The votes for that were compiled on March 31 and April 1 — and Brunson has continued to drag the Knicks to the finish line with one masterpiece after another. Since Julius Randle and OG Anunoby went out with injuries — Anunoby returning for just five of the 32 games in that span — Brunson has averaged 30.2 points and 7.1 assists.
“I want a recount,” Thibodeau joked of the straw poll results. “He’s earned that. It’s not like some hype. If you look across the board, I think it’s a byproduct of the winning and what he’s done. More importantly they’re not empty stats. It’s impacting winning in a great way. And so to be a leading scorer in the league, to do it with the amount of pressure that he’s had on him in terms of double teaming. We’ve had a lot of guys out, got a number of guys with minute restrictions and everything else and this guy has delivered night after night.”
There have been nights like the 61-point performance in San Antonio and the 43-point game in Milwaukee, one of nine games of at least 40 points for Brunson this season. But he has managed to find a way to lead the Knicks to wins by navigating his way to much-needed scoring through defenses built to try to slow him. And maybe just as important, he has beaten the blitzes and double-teams, finding holes for teammates.
“Just watching that on a daily basis, how no matter what defenses throw at him, he’s either making the right scoring play or what people are not talking about, he’s making the right pass, too,” Isaiah Hartenstein said. “I think you see a lot of players who just score, score, score, and when [they] get in situations where [they] might have to pass, they’re not making the right reads. He’s been making the right reads and that’s how I’m getting most of my shots, him making the right reads. Whether it’s to me or kicking it out, that’s impressive, especially getting doubled that much. I think he had 10 assists, almost I don’t know how many games. It’s been impressive just seeing him last year to this year. The passing. The scoring always, but this year the passing has been elite.”
“Reading and reacting,” Brunson said. “Obviously, understanding what they’re trying to do and putting people in position to be successful. And I know I have a lot of guys on this team that can make plays in the middle of the floor. So if they put two on the ball, I know I can get off it and they can make a play. If I relocate and the defense shades to my side, I know whoever has the ball will make the right play.”
Notes & quotes: With a chance to clinch a top-six spot Tuesday with a win and a Miami loss — or losses by Miami and Philadelphia and an Orlando win — the Knicks placed playoff tickets on sale Tuesday.
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.
