{"id":736382,"date":"2026-05-17T02:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736382\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T02:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:09:22","slug":"nobody-can-guard-him-baron-davis-explains-why-jalen-brunson-is-the-modern-day-allen-iverson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/736382\/","title":{"rendered":"“Nobody can guard him” – Baron Davis explains why Jalen Brunson is the modern-day Allen Iverson"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the New York Knicks<\/a> riding a seven-game winning streak and punching their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year, there\u2019s clearly something different about this team. It\u2019s not just about winning anymore; it\u2019s about the way they\u2019re doing it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a confidence about them that suggests they don\u2019t just want to compete; they aim to dominate. That\u2019s exactly why former Knick – Baron Davis<\/a> – feels this current group has everything it takes, from talent, depth and momentum to finally bring home the Larry O\u2019Brien trophy for the first time in over five decades.<\/p>\n

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Moreover, a huge part of that newfound belief centers around Jalen Brunson<\/a>, who Davis boldly compared to Allen Iverson, pointing out how both of them are fearless, undersized scoring guards who can break down defenses and score from anywhere on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like JB. Brunson to me is like Allen Iverson in this era. Nobody can guard him, no matter what you do; he’s going to get his shot off. He gonna get hot. It\u2019s in Fuego, and he can play in the moment,\u201d Davis said. \u201cBrunson is the x-factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunson is in hot form<\/p>\n

Ever since the Knicks went down 2-1 against the Atlanta Hawks<\/a> in their first-round series, Brunson has been the catalyst of their impressive turnaround.<\/p>\n

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He\u2019s been averaging 27.2 points per game during this stretch, including three performances where he dropped over 30 points.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more impressive is his consistency and efficiency. Over the last seven playoff games, JB shot 50.0 percent or better in four of those contests and over 37 percent from downtown in five. That kind of reliability is exactly what teams need deep in the playoffs when every possession matters.\u200b<\/p>\n

And it hasn\u2019t been just about scoring. Brunson, who averages just over five assists per game in his career, has dished six or more assists in five of those seven contests. That shows how confident Brunson has become, even when the defense is pounding him with constant pressure and double-team schemes.\u200b<\/p>\n

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Sure, Davis\u2019 praise comes with a bit of bias as he is vouching for the Knicks to win and Brunson is their star player. But JB, like Allen Iverson<\/a>, is dictating the pace of the game through scoring and creating looks, leaving opponents chasing the game from the early minutes.<\/p>\n

JB needs more to justify the comparison<\/p>\n

That said, the job is far from done. If Brunson truly wants to live up to that Iverson comparison, there\u2019s one more critical step remaining – getting the Knicks to the NBA Finals for the first time since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n

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Iverson did it back in 2001, leading the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> – a period that included him averaging 30.5 points per game in the ECFs, and getting labeled as the most electrifying player in the league.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, JB saw his Knicks face elimination last season, even when he averaged 30.7 points per game in the conference finals. Therefore, this time, he is aware that his impact needs to be multifaceted.\u200b<\/p>\n

Related: Jamal Crawford says Knicks are thriving by using Jalen Brunson like Allen Iverson: “They’re a little less predictable”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the New York Knicks riding a seven-game winning streak and punching their ticket to the Eastern Conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[6170,676,208,3874,2210,7,2955,677,288,61792,6,191,207,4485],"class_list":["post-736382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-hawks","tag-allen-iverson","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlantahawks","tag-baron-davis","tag-basketball","tag-eastern-conference-finals","tag-hawks","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-jb","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-points-per-game"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116587486504717633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736382","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=736382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}