Have a Brunson article, friends
https://theathletic.com/5410123/2024/04/12/jalen-brunson-knicks-celtics-defense-scoring/The best team in the NBA threw all it could at Jalen Brunson. By the end, it was as if the Boston Celtics didn’t attempt enough.
The Celtics’ top-flight defenders couldn’t slow the New York Knicks point guard. They scrolled through defensive coverages, some as creative as Brunson has faced this season. None hampered him as intended.
These days, not much does.
Brunson and the Knicks eviscerated Boston on Thursday. The Celtics’ cosmetic final period prettied up the result, a 118-109 win for New York, which led by as many as 31 points in the second half — thanks, in part, to another sparkler from Brunson, who fell one point short of his third consecutive 40-point performance.
“The way he plays, the things he can do, it’s definitely special,” OG Anunoby said. “He’s one of the best in the league. He’s playing like an MVP; (he) should win MVP.”
KNICKS WIN!!! pic.twitter.com/GnFOqdbt2Z
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) April 12, 2024
It’s high praise from a supportive teammate, but for now, ignore the award conversation. Forget about where Brunson should place on an MVP ballot or whether he should make first- or second-team All-NBA. Don’t mind the 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting and 6 of 11 3-point accuracy against the Celtics, all of which came before he rested the entire fourth quarter.
Heck, don’t even acknowledge the tear Brunson is on, averaging 38.5 points over his past eight games, and it’s not like he’s just chucking during this time. He’s hitting 51 percent of his field-goal attempts and 41 percent of his 3s over the streak.
But the trivia stops here. Send the two previous paragraphs into one eye and out the other. The numbers, at least at the moment, do not tell the full story.
Instead, focus on one word that Anunoby used: “special.”
The greatest mark of a “special” player isn’t his statistics over a two-week heater. It’s the way elite competition approaches that player and how he responds. And in that sense, Brunson is reaching a stratosphere to which few rise.
The Celtics had only their pride to play for Thursday. At times, it appeared they were lacking it. A group that locked up the Eastern Conference’s top spot long ago didn’t bring second efforts every possession. Too often, it failed to close out on shooters. Its energy did not match the Knicks’.
But strategically, behind an adaptable coach in Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics showed up — even if Brunson made it seem like they did not.
Brunson influenced every step Boston made. Yet, it couldn’t find a way to scoot in his way.
The Celtics began the night with Jrue Holiday, maybe the best defensive guard of his generation, manning center Isaiah Hartenstein just in the hopes it would muck up the pick-and-rolls Brunson and Hartenstein weaponize.
Conventionally, defenses send two defenders at Brunson when he dribbles around a screen. The goal is obvious: Get the ball out of his hands. But the Celtics, loaded with physical perimeter defenders, wanted to switch the action.
To begin the night, Brunson ran pick-and-rolls. Holiday would switch from Hartenstein to Brunson, which meant the Knicks’ top scorer going up against one of the world’s most uncharitable stoppers.
Yet, Brunson figured it out.
The Celtics cycled through defenders and coverages.
At different moments, Holiday, Derrick White and Jaylen Brown guarded Brunson. They began the game by switching on his pick-and-rolls. They played a drop with center Kristaps Porziņģis sagging inside the 3-point arc to take away the rim. During a second-quarter run, Brunson continued to call over Porziņģis’ man, Josh Hart, for pick-and-rolls, waiting for Porziņģis to drop back. Then, Brunson sliced up Boston with floaters and midrange jumpers.
In other moments, the Celtics pestered him from end line to end line. Come the start of the second half, they trapped him, sending both defenders in the action his way on pick-and-rolls.
Brunson responded in character, getting rid of the ball quickly, allowing a teammate to attack a vulnerable defense in a four-on-three and darting somewhere else, allowing him to get open again. On top of all the highlights, he’s become one of the league’s most active cutters over the past 2 1/2 months.
Whatever the Celtics tested, Brunson figured it out, and it didn’t take him long.