{"id":61180,"date":"2025-05-28T08:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T08:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/61180\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T08:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T08:59:14","slug":"jalen-brunson-isnt-shying-away-from-his-knicks-defense-reality-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/61180\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson isn\u2019t shying away from his Knicks defense reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Jalen Brunson knows the reality.<\/p>\n

Opponents constantly hunt him on the defensive end. For as talented of a scorer he is, his lack of size and quickness make him a weak defender.<\/p>\n

The Pacers have tried to take advantage, relentlessly putting him in actions in order to attack him. And entering Tuesday\u2019s Game 4, Brunson\u2019s 127 individual defensive rating (how many points are allowed per 100 possessions while he\u2019s on the court) was the worst on the Knicks.<\/p>\n

\"Indiana<\/p>\n

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) drives to the hoop past New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the second quarter of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

With Brunson as the primary defender, the Pacers shot 19-for-32 from the field (59.4 percent), highest among all Knicks players who defended more than five shots.<\/p>\n

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One thing that Brunson can\u2019t be criticized for defensively is his effort or willingness to put his body on the line.<\/p>\n

His seven charges drawn were most among all players in the postseason entering Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously when teams hunt me, it is what it is,\u201d Brunson said on Monday. \u201cObviously I\u2019m gonna give my effort, give everything I have. I\u2019ve just gotta be smart and not foul, and I think if I just keep my body in the right position and contest shots, and foul or not foul or not receive the foul, I\u2019ll put my team in a better position to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pacers<\/p>\n

Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith (23) puts up a shot against New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) during the third quarter of Game 2 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference final, Friday, May 23, 2025, AP<\/p>\n

Getting targeted with such frequency on defense has also resulted in him getting into foul trouble.<\/p>\n

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He sat much of the fourth quarter of the Game 3 win, when the Knicks mounted their fierce comeback.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs<\/p>\n

Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks<\/a> to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take<\/a> for insider texts about the series.<\/p>\n

And the Knicks defense during that stretch \u2014 with Brunson on the bench \u2014 was stifling.<\/p>\n

Is there something that can be taken from those minutes and repeated when Brunson is on the floor?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the most consistent part was how we were flying around,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cEven if breakdowns happened, we recovered back, we flew around, we got back to bodies, back to matching up. It may have led to a couple of offensive rebounds, but the way we were flying around, it was definitely key to making things more difficult for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Jalen Brunson knows the reality. Opponents constantly hunt him on the defensive end. For as talented…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[1431,280,7,2955,126,288,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-61180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-2025-nba-playoffs","9":"tag-aaron-nesmith","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-eastern-conference-finals","12":"tag-indiana-pacers","13":"tag-jalen-brunson","14":"tag-knicks","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-knicks","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkknicks","20":"tag-tyrese-haliburton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114584640853649211","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}