Jalen Brunson again carries Knicks, scoring 45 points in win over Bulls
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, center, drives to the basket against Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso, left, and center Nikola Vucevic during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Credit: AP/Nam Y. Huh
CHICAGO — When the subject of All-Stars or awards is raised, Tom Thibodeau has always 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
Tuesday night at the United Center it was no different as Brunson again befuddled the best-laid plans to slow him down and poured in 45 points, leading the Knicks to a 128-117 win over the Chicago Bulls.
It moved the team one step closer to clinching a top-six playoff berth and also to ascending through the Eastern Conference standings with only three games to play.
The win dropped the Knicks’ magic number for a playoff spot to one as Miami kept them from clinching with a double-overtime win in Atlanta. But with Orlando losing to Houston the Knicks moved into sole possession of third place. They remain one game back of Milwaukee for second place with the Bucks holding the tiebreaker. However, the Bucks lost Giannis Antetokounmpo to a strained left calf in the win over Boston. The Knicks put playoff tickets on sale before Tuesday’s games began.
“It’s the same mentality. Same approach,” Brunson said. “I just think as we get close to the end of the season, we’ve been talking about not jogging to the finish line, just sprinting to it. So making sure we’re playing as hard as we can, getting better every single day. And we got to make sure our minds are ready to go.”
It was Brunson who led the way, becoming only the third Knick to ever have multiple streaks of consecutive 40-point games in a season (Bernard King and Patrick Ewing), but he had help from OG Anunoby, who added 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting; Josh Hart, who had 17 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists; and Donte DiVincenzo, who had 21 points.
The Knicks led nearly wire-to-wire and even their early miscues seemed to go comically wrong for the Bulls, like when on a three-on-none fast break Torrey Craig opted to try to bounce the ball off the backboard to himself. However, Andre Drummond, trailing behind him, thought it was for him, and jumped, too, both trying to dunk it and bouncing it off the rim. Drummond then rolled his left ankle on the ensuing play on the other end and was taken off in a wheelchair.
The Knicks led by six at halftime and promptly ran off a 13-2 start to the third quarter. The Bulls battled back, pulling within four early in the fourth quarter, but Brunson again delivered a tough three-pointer for a 112-103 lead with 7:01 remaining. After Hart hit a jumper, Brunson drained another three to top 40 for the 10th time this season.
Brunson was named an All-Star for the first time two months ago, silencing doubters one by one throughout the season. He will almost certainly 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 being a top 10 vote-getter 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,” 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, getting three votes for third place on the ballots. The votes for that were compiled March 31-April 1 — and Brunson has continued to drag the Knicks to the finish line with one masterpiece after another. Since Julius Randle and Anunoby went out with injuries on Jan. 27, Brunson has averaged 30.6 points and 7.1 assists.
“I want a recount,” Thibodeau joked about 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 continuing count of 40-point games for Brunson this season. But he has managed to find a way to lead the Knicks to wins, no matter how shorthanded, by navigating his way to much-needed scoring. 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. 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.”
Notes & quotes: With the Mavericks clinching a spot in the playoffs, their 2024 first-round draft pick, currently No. 25 overall, will now be sent to the Knicks..
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.
