Jalen Brunson says he’ll wait until after the season or after his career to look back on the heady company he is keeping in these playoffs, accomplishing feats that only the elite of the elite — or in some cases, nobody at all — in NBA history have previously achieved.
But his closest friends on the Knicks will make sure to needle him with reminders that his name suddenly stands alongside the likes of Michael Jordan (1993), Jerry West (1965) and team legend Bernard King (1984) as the only players in NBA playoff history to score at least 40 points in four straight games after Monday’s win over the Pacers in Game 1 of the second round.
“If you know my friends, you should know that they’re all a–holes, first of all,” Brunson noted with a smile after practice Tuesday in Tarrytown.
The All-Star point guard was referring to Knicks teammate and former Villanova roommate Donte DiVincenzo looking at him and teasingly saying, “Michael Jordan?” during Monday’s postgame press conference.
Donte DiVincenzo joked with Jalen Brunson postgame about his name being alongside Michael Jordan’s in NBA playoff history.Charles Wenzelberg
Brunson added that DiVincenzo, fellow Nova alum Josh Hart and his other friends are “all sarcastic, so I just tried to stop [DiVincenzo] before he kept going.”
Still, there is no downplaying what Brunson has been able to accomplish so far in these playoffs, averaging a league-best 36.6 points in seven games against the 76ers and the Pacers, with Game 2 against Indiana on tap for Wednesday night at the Garden.
West actually went for 40-plus in six straight games for the Lakers, so Brunson can match him with two more such performances.
“I don’t really worry about it. … I understand what’s going on, so it’s definitely obviously pretty cool, and it makes it better to know that it comes off a win, most importantly,” Brunson said. “But honestly no matter what the situation was, whether it was positive or negative, I have to come back and be better.
“Last series, the first two games I was awful, and for me, I do have to be better, so I have to put that in the back of my mind. This is the same thing. Obviously the stat you just said, I need to put it in the back of my mind and be better the next day.”
With his 43 points and six assists in the series opener, the 27-year-old Brunson also became the first player in NBA history with at least 40 and five in those categories over four consecutive postseason appearances.
While DiVincenzo acknowledged, “Me and Josh give it to him all the time,” he stressed that he’s also “so proud” of Brunson, “just knowing what type of person he is.”
“He doesn’t take praise and accolades and all that stuff, he doesn’t take it well,” added DiVincenzo, who hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 40.1 seconds remaining in Game 1. “He’s always trying to get better. He always knows there’s going to be more doubters. More things to improve on. That’s his beauty as a person.
“He knows what he’s doing, but he doesn’t address it. He’s just trying to get better every single day. Knowing him and looking on the outside, I love it. I sure as hell love it. I will celebrate every day of the week. But that’s who he is as a person, not just a basketball player.”
Jalen Brunson “doesn’t take praise and accolades” well, according to Donte DiVincenzo.Charles Wenzelberg
Of course, Brunson instead stressed the areas he needs to improve in Game 2, such as “obviously to not turn the ball over” against the Pacers’ pressing defense after committing four giveaways in the opener.
Tom Thibodeau always says in praise of Brunson that he does what the game calls for, and the coach said again the Knicks have needed the point guard’s scoring to win games since Julius Randle went down with a shoulder injury in late January.
To wit, Brunson also didn’t hesitate to pass out of an oncoming double-team to find DiVincenzo for the go-ahead trey in Monday’s final minute.
“I don’t think I’m going into games thinking I’m going to score 40. I mean, if you told me at the end of the third quarter that I had 22 and I was going to finish with 40, I would be like, that’s kind of slim considering how the game was going,” Brunson said. “So I don’t think about it at all.
“I think what can we do? How can we be aggressive? How can we attack? And where can we get the best advantage for our team? It has nothing to do with me saying I need to hit this amount of points, I need to hit this amount of shots. I’m reading how the game is in play and that’s just my mindset, and that’s how it’s always been.”
The other accolades and comparisons to greats of the game will continue to come as Brunson moves up these statistical lists, especially if he leads the Knicks deep into the postseason.
“Even with guys like [LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo] we all have the tendency when we look at players to see them as they are now, today. And you tend to forget all the steps they took along the way,” Thibodeau said. “Some guys are driven to get better each year. And I think Jalen is one of those guys.
“I remember Giannis, when he came in, you look at some of the younger guys that came into the league — Kevin Garnett, a Kobe [Bryant], [Tracy] McGrady. Those guys, there was a progression to it. They weren’t who they ultimately became, but we all tend to remember the guy at the end, when he’s the dominant player. And I think sometimes it’s hard and it’s a mistake to measure guys like that.”
