Nine assists a game in a month of March plus 10 more to kickoff the April slate. Jalen Brunson is moving the ball like never before\u2013and it\u2019s right on time for a Knicks team gearing up for a playoff run they hope can result in an NBA Finals appearance.<\/p>\n
Brunson\u2019s average of 8.9 assists per game in March marked the most assists the All-Star guard has dished in any month of his now eight-year NBA career. The Knicks\u2019 captain is averaging 6.7 assists per game this season under new head coach Mike Brown against his mark of 7.3 dimes a night last year under Tom Thibodeau.<\/p>\n
Last month, however, in the face of more aggressive defensive coverages, the star Knicks made a clear decision to move the ball early and often. It was a glaring omission in his approach to the game, specifically coming out of the NBA Cup Final victory over the San Antonio Spurs, when the Knicks lost nine out of 11 games opening the 2026 calendar year.<\/p>\n
Brunson said a number of factors have fueled his uptick in playmaking: the way defenses have been guarding him chief among them. But his moving the ball directly impacts his teammates, who now\u2013for better or worse\u2013have more of an opportunity to leave an imprint on the outcome of a game. The Knicks\u2019 star tied Russell Westbrook for fifth in assists per game in March, trailing only Indiana\u2019s Andrew Nembhard, Detroit\u2019s Cade Cunningham, Chicago\u2019s Josh Giddey and Denver\u2019s Nikola Jokic. The Knicks went 9-6 in games Brunson played during that stretch.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It\u2019s been] a mixture of everything,\u201d Brunson said after a 17-point, 10-assist performance in Friday\u2019s victory over the Chicago Bulls. \u201cDefenses have been aggressive, and I\u2019ve been able to hit guys in the right spots for them to make plays, and that\u2019s all it\u2019s been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brunson logged consecutive 15-assist games in March, falling two shy of a 17-dime career-high set on Nov. 25, 2024 in Denver against the Nuggets. He had 26 points and 13 assists in the March 26 loss to the Charlotte Hornets and another 26 points to go with 10 assists on March 3 against the Toronto Raptors.<\/p>\n
Brunson, who is averaging 26 points on the season, averaged 23.7 points last month, but OG Anunoby\u2019s scoring increased, as did Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019 field goal attempts, particularly in the back half of the month.<\/p>\n
\u201cJalen\u2019s just taking what the defense gives him,\u201d Brown said on Friday. \u201cWhen you\u2019re talking about a great player, that\u2019s what they do. They\u2019re able to adjust their game with what\u2019s in front of him. So, to me, it\u2019s not surprising.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people might think it\u2019s special, but he\u2019s more than capable. He had a good game, but he\u2019s more than capable of that, or putting up 30\u2013or both.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks will need both, because Brunson is the NBA\u2019s reigning Clutch Player of the Year, and his shoulders are the ones ultimately carrying the heaviest weight for a franchise seeking its first NBA title since 1973. They knew, however, their star guard could score at-will, as he showed time and time again to fuel consecutive 50-win seasons and the organization\u2019s first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in a quarter-century.<\/p>\n
The playmaking? That\u2019s relatively new. But it\u2019s better late than never. In fact, later might be better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine assists a game in a month of March plus 10 more to kickoff the April slate. Jalen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,88116,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806],"class_list":{"0":"post-701988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jalen-brunson-passing-knicks","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkknicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116359665340250154","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701988","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=701988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}