Jalen Brunson delivered a moment that will live forever in Knicks‘ history when he sank a three-pointer in the final seconds Thursday night to close out their series with Detroit, writes Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post. With Game 6 tied on New York’s final possession, Brunson drove hard to the left, then crossed over to lose Pistons defender Ausar Thompson (Twitter video link from the NBA). By the time Thompson recovered, Brunson had already released the straightaway three that decided the series.
“I found a way to create separation,” said Brunson, who capped off a 40-point night. “I shot a little earlier than I wanted to but I had to shoot it, and I got the ball to go in.”
As Vaccaro points out, Brunson’s heroics weren’t limited to the final shot. After the Knicks let a 12-point fourth quarter lead slip away and faced a seven-point deficit with two and a half minutes remaining, Brunson took over the offense to prevent Detroit from forcing a Game 7. First came a three-point play on a six-foot floater, followed by a reverse layup under the basket. On the next possession, the Pistons surrounded him on a drive to the hoop, allowing Mikal Bridges to easily tip in the miss.
“What can you say?” coach Tom Thibodeau said after the dramatic victory. “He’s timely, he’s at his best when his best is needed. That’s what makes him special.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Brunson’s shot altered the team’s future to a degree that’s impossible to measure, states James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. If New York had lost the series, Edwards believes there definitely would have been conversations about replacing Thibodeau, and owner James Dolan would have considered front office moves as well after major offseason deals to acquire Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns put the franchise into luxury tax territory.
- Bridges delivered his best game of the playoffs with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting, per Steve Popper of Newsday. Popper notes that the Knicks traded for Bridges and OG Anunoby to match up with Boston wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and they’ll get that chance in the second round. “Yeah, they’re a hell of players and got moves for days and physical,” Bridges said of the Celtics duo. “Yeah, definitely a challenge, but it’s never one-on-one. You got four guys behind you, your teammates, so it’s just team defense and just helping each other out.”
- The Knicks will have to recover quickly from a physically and mentally draining series to have any chance against Boston, observes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Towns has some experience in facing a defending champion in the playoffs as his Minnesota team ousted Denver in seven games last spring. “With that experience, we learned a lot,” Towns said. “You gotta be ready for Game 9, you gotta be ready to have that energy and emotional capacity.”
I love JB and his moment however does it really count if it’s just the first round. Let’s see JB do that against Boston in a game 6 or 7 then we can talk about a great moment.
Brunson 36.8 pts, 5 ast, 3.2 reb vs Pistons.
His ast should be higher. Not beating Celtics unless Towns and Bridges show up.
Just read the odds for NY to beat Boston in 7 games all I can say is wow, never have seen odds at -900 to 1 chance that the Knicks will beat the Celtics in the next round. It was a great moment for the Knick fans last night. But the Celtics are a higher mountain to climb. Even some of the media is not booking rooms for games 6 and 7. So it sounds like right now it will be Boston in 5.
It’s possible. Boston is not all that, if they can contain Tatum they have a shot.
Even as a Knicks fan, I would be shocked if they won this series. Only chance they win is if everyone gets hot suddenly or several Celtics get injured (a possibility with Holiday missing time, KP being fragile, and Tatum/Brown dealing with injuries). We’ll see but my hopes are not up.
Agree. Same concerns. OG needs to rest up – he’s the key for the Knicks if they want to limit Tatum. Same with Bridges and Brown. Less offense and more defense if they need to choose where to expend their energy. And Thibs needs to go deeper into that bench and spread out his timeouts so they can breathe.
Jalen Brunson has the best footwork in the NBA since Kobe. Simply magnificent performance last night. That Knicks team had no business winning that close out game but he willed them to victory. That’s how you play basketball. Not just chuck 3’s and bait for fouls. Keep your dribble alive and look for an opening to shoot.
Also, KAT is a fraud and will be exposed next round. I have Celtics in 5.
Honestly Brunson is frustrating to watch. The Knicks wouldn’t be nearly as good without him but at times he makes it that much harder to win. He tries to do too much.
The Knicks led 96-85 at the end of the third last night. Brunson had 30 points on 11-19 and 6 assists through three quarters while building that lead.
The Pistons had no business making it close. Brunson went 4-14 with 1 assist in the 4th. Sure he hit the game winner but the Knicks probably wouldn’t have needed a game winner if he hadn’t forced up so many shots and trusted his teammates.
It doesn’t help that KAT was ineffective as well. At the end of the day, you live by your best player and die by your best player. Jalen Brunson is their best place and it’s not even close. I don’t have a problem at the FGA considering that if they didn’t win yesterday, G7 would likely be the biggest game in recent Knicks history given that their future was at stake.
@chuck – You can say the same about Jordan and how did that work out? And no, I’m not saying he’s Jordan, but responding to “he tries to do too much.” That’s what good/great players do. It’s expected.
Captain Clutch —- “mama there goes that man”
40 pts to close out Pistons in Detroit……
Last second 3pt shot (4.7 sec) gm clock ……
The Loko Luka Clan will troll and stalk Nico for the Luka trade. Yet are clueless about Captain Clutch.
Mavs gave up Jalen Brunson for NOTHING …..
Than You …. Muchas Gracias …. Merci Beaucoup
NY Knickerbockers thank you. Knick nation thanks you.
Was having the same thought last night. Wow did Dallas screw that up.
It’s easy to confuse Amen for Ausar as is done in this story.
nice move on the last play to bamboozle young blood thompson. the shot went in. that takes talent.
ofc the rest of the gm all JB did was foul bait to the point that the entire arena started chanting “flopper! flopper!” along with all the offseason drills, brunson took acting lessons too bc he a drama queen on the court. all the knicks are. enjoy the boston sweep
Troll.
The whole L is leaving how to defend Jalen. He’s changing the game. Ho took what Harden and Luka do. And perfected it. Stop crying and learn to lose. Get better.
KAT was looking real tired and slow last night, he’s got old man game.
Have you seen the minutes over the season for anyone who plays for Thibs?
Brunson had a great series against Detroit. Unfortunately it also showed how dependent Knicks are on Brunson. Knicks bench was a No Show. Towns still a liability on D. And if he’s not scoring. He is not tuned in to game. Knicks are still waiting for Bridges to do this every game. He finally showed up for gm6.
Knicks are not favored to beat Celtics. Can’t beat them in a 7gm series. Especially if Towns and Bridges don’t show up EVERY game. And the bench miraculously wakes up. TJ is out there watching.
This Knicks core is together for their first playoff run. This their first year together. Nobody is expecting them to beat Celtics.
We are expecting them to show up and compete.
Al, not sure if you saw this stat, but it shows that “2 Way Bridges” did a very solid job on Cade in the series. The haters will hate but the stats don’t lie. From Tommy Beer on Twitter:
“[Beer] Per NBA tracking data, Mikal Bridges was the primary defender on Cade Cunningham for 85 possessions over the full six-game series. In those 85 possessions, Cunningham shot just 11-for-29 from the floor (38%) and had more turnovers (8) than assists (6).”
I know you have talked about Bridges defense a lot this season, and that stat backs you up.
Ausar! Not his twin, Amen.
NYK are not where they would need to be to have a good chance in this series. Offensively, it looked like they were heading in the right direction chemistry-wise, but Brunson’s absence set them back. They probably just need an offseason/ preseason together, with another 30 games. Defensively, however, the problems won’t fix themselves. They’ve gone nowhere all year despite their supposed attempts to fix it. They have no defensive identity, and often only selective energy on that end. My sense is the lineup is too small too often, but I don’t see a simple fix right now. The offseason has to be about adjusting the roster so KAT no longer has to play C (except in smaller lineups). That means getting at least one more C that is a rim protector. They can’t be solely dependent on Mitch.
DET has a superstar, but otherwise reminds me of the NYK in Thibs first few seasons here. They play with a purpose for 48 mins, even though they realize a talent deficit might betray them at the end. This NYK team has lost that edge. They’re hanging their hat on their talent and a collective belief in their ability to figure things out on the fly and pull out close games. They are talented, smart and clutch, but not to the degree that those alone can carry them to a deep playoff run. Thankfully, that talent includes OG’s amazing defensive skill set (he, as much as Brunson, was the key to winning the series).
Upsets in NBA playoff series are rare, and its even more rare that they come out of nowhere. When they happen it usually starts with a Game 1 upset win on the road.