Jalen Brunson has another big fourth quarter but doesn't get much help in Knicks' Game 2 loss to Pistons

Jalen Brunson can’t do this on his own.

Brunson may be the best clutch player in the NBA, but the Knicks can’t depend on him to save them every fourth quarter. They can’t fall behind and play catch-up for more than three quarters and expect their captain to come in, spin his magic and save them.

Despite another big-time fourth quarter from Brunson in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series Monday, the Knicks lost home-court advantage as a resilient Detroit Pistons team came away with a 100-94 win at Madison Square Garden. The series, tied at one win apiece, heads to Detroit.

In Game 1, Brunson scored 12 points in the final 8:27 to lead the Knicks in a come-from-behind victory. And for a few minutes Monday, it looked as though Knicks fans were witnessing a deja vu.

Once again, Brunson left the game briefly in the fourth quarter but then returned. Once again, he knocked down huge shots late in the game, scoring 14 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter. And once again, he showed some smart late decision-making, with an assist on Josh Hart’s dunk that tied the game with 1:15 left.

This time, however, the Pistons did not collapse as they had when the Knicks scored 21 straight in Game 1. The Pistons, who led by as many as 15 points in Monday, were able to withstand the late Knicks comeback and make this into a very interesting series.

“He battled like crazy and there was physicality,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of Brunson. “There was a huge discrepancy in free throws ... If [Cade] Cunningham is driving and there’s marginal contact and he’s getting to the line, then Jalen deserves to be getting to the line. It’s that simple.”

Though the Pistons attempted 34 free throws, and the Knicks 19, Brunson and Cunningham were fairly even, with Brunson taking 11 and Cunningham 12.

Brunson took the blame for the loss.

“I feel like I’m getting in spots and missing shots that I normally make,” Brunson said. “And I feel like it could be a lot better. And I hold myself to a higher standard than that. I just have to put my team in position to win. All the other stuff doesn’t matter. The stats, when it comes to a loss, it doesn’t matter at all. I just got to help my team and put them in position to win and tonight, I didn’t do that.”

A day after Brunson’s big fourth quarter in Game 1, the NBA announced that he was one of three finalists for the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award.

The winner of the award, which was introduced in 2023 and is also known as the Jerry West Trophy, will be announced Wednesday. De’Aaron Fox won the inaugural award and Stephen Curry earned it last season.

Officially, Brunson has some competition. He is joined by Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards as this year’s finalists. But it would be an upset if it didn’t go to Brunson, especially after the way he’s come back to play after missing a month in March with a serious ankle injury.

Clutch time is defined as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points in either direction. Time after time, and in some of the biggest games, this is when Brunson has shone brightest.

During the regular season, Brunson had 156 clutch points in 28 clutch games, which was second in the NBA by one point behind Edwards. However, it took Edwards 42 clutch games to reach his total of 157.

There’s a theory out there that poise under pressure can’t be taught. It’s something you either have or you don’t. Yet, contrary to how easy Brunson makes it look, poise does seem to be something that can be learned, if you are determined.

Tom Thibodeau has coached clutch players before, including Derrick Rose, who made so many big-time shots during his 2010-11 MVP season in Chicago that he was nicknamed the “Windy City Assassin.”

Thibodeau believes that being a clutch player comes down to work and doing everything possible in practice to prepare for the moment, so when that time comes it’s almost automatic. It’s about having the ability to perform at a high level without overthinking.

“Oftentimes you look at it and say, well, he has poise under pressure,” Thibodeau said of Brunson before Game 2. “He has confidence and where do those things come from? And then you understand it comes from preparation.”

“Obviously, you have to have great talent. But because of the way he prepares himself when he’s in those situations, he’s very confident because of the work he put in.”

Confident, yes. But he still can’t do it alone.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

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.