On April 18, 2022<\/a>, Brunson, then a member of the Dallas Mavericks, scored 41 points in a Game 2 first-round win over the Utah Jazz. No Luka Don\u010di\u0107, who was injured, by his side. Just Brunson, a second-round pick and college national champion, now with the platform to prove he could be just as good on the sport\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\nThe rest since then is history that is still being written.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like he wasn\u2019t on the scouting report, but I don\u2019t think us as a team thought he was going to perform the way that he did,\u201d said Jordan Clarkson, who is now a Knick but was on the Jazz team that Brunson tortured in Game 2. \u201cIt was like his coming-out party.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just busting our ass, for real.\u201d<\/p>\n
The similarities between that night four years ago and Saturday\u2019s win smack you in the face. Brunson made his first six shots against the Hawks. Back in 2022 against Utah, he made his first five shots. In both games, three of those makes were 3s. He couldn\u2019t be bothered, let alone stopped.<\/p>\n
Brunson\u2019s attentiveness is hard for many to duplicate, which is why he is considered one of the game\u2019s best players. It tends to come out most in high-pressure situations, like the playoffs, where Brunson is now working on a double disc of his greatest hits, with so many memorable postseason moments. It\u2019s shown in the clutch; Brunson was the NBA\u2019s Clutch Player of the Year a season ago. This year, he flipped the script and ranked second in the NBA in first-quarter points during the regular season, behind Don\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n
The Mavericks needed Brunson\u2019s best that night four years ago. They got it. On Saturday, New York needed to show itself and the rest of the basketball world that the lackadaisical, up-and-down play that was too often sprinkled in between quality wins might just be blips in a long schedule. Brunson took it into his own hands to send that message. His team followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we knew the impact he could have on the game,\u201d said Quin Snyder, who coached the Jazz during the 2022 playoffs and now, coincidentally, is the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. \u201cLuka was out, and I think that provided him an opportunity where there was a need, and he was prepared for that because of how good a player he is. I think, also, it speaks to his mindset, his mental toughness, to step into a situation like that in the playoffs and raise your level to the point that he did, but it was in some ways foreshadowed.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Four years ago Saturday, Jalen Brunson torched the Jazz with Luka Don\u010di\u0107 sidelined. (Kevin Jairaj \/ USA Today Sports)<\/p>\n
Brunson made just one shot after that first-quarter performance Saturday. You read that correctly. It happens, but that\u2019s what teammates are for.<\/p>\n
OG Anunoby was a steady presence on both sides of the ball. Karl-Anthony Towns played good defense throughout, and then his scoring caught up late in the second half. Mikal Bridges was consistent defensively. Josh Hart did Josh Hart things.<\/p>\n
For the rest of the game, the Knicks didn\u2019t need Brunson to play savior. That is what makes this version of New York so potentially dangerous. But the Knicks did need someone to come out of the gate and take charge. Brunson shook off everyone else\u2019s nerves by showing he had none of his own. It led to a strong performance by the New York starters, which has been hard to come by since the group was put together two summers ago.<\/p>\n
The Knicks had a professional win. B-plus. Very few notes. The game was close at points, but New York always felt in control before pulling away for good late. There was no need to play catch-up, as the Knicks had at so many points during the regular season.<\/p>\n
Come playoff time, there\u2019s always a moment or two or three when you\u2019re reminded that Brunson is one of the greatest scorers the game has to offer. Then you, naturally, remember his NBA backstory, and that can\u2019t be told without mentioning that night in Utah.<\/p>\n
Brunson, though, prefers to use a different starting point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think (the game four years ago) did a lot (for me mentally),\u201d Brunson said. \u201cBut I think, most importantly, everyone sees that game \u2026 the first couple of years before that, I was just chipping away and chipping away. I was working every day. You work on your game to be the best, most complete player you can be. When you\u2019re out there on the court, you have to perfect the role that\u2019s asked of you. Every day, I was working on my game. In the summers, I was getting better.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen an opportunity like that comes around, there\u2019s no reason to get ready when you stay ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet again, four years later, Brunson was ready for the moment. Only this time, everyone was aware of who they were watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The New York Knicks, as much as anything, needed to reveal their worthiness. The people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[7,423,6,191,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-713835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jazz","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york-knicks","12":"tag-utah","13":"tag-utah-jazz","14":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116430853734528496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713835","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=713835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}