Getty Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks tries to keep the ball from Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Amid the wild celebration of the fan base after the New York Knicks took a commanding 3-1 series lead in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Jalen Brunson wasn’t having any of it.
After Brunson led the Knicks to the Game 4 victory with 29 points, six rebounds, and six assists, he warned his teammates not to get lost in the din of celebration and remained focused on the task at hand–winning one more game to close out the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“It’s not over,” Brunson told reporters during his postgame interview. “It’s not even close to being over. We’ll continue to keep focusing on one day at a time, and there’s nothing to celebrate. There’s nothing to be truly happy about, so, obviously, we’d won tonight and be one step closer, but we have to continue to have that same mindset, mentality that we have over the past couple of games.”
Brunson, the calm and collected leader of the Knicks, is the only active player on the roster who has been in this situation before. Closing out a Cavaliers team expected to play with desperation will be much harder on the road.
His message to the team is “to not think about closing it out. Don’t think about closing it out at all. Just think of it like, ‘Hey, we’re going to the hostile environment, and they’re going to play desperate, and we just gotta be able to bring it, and we gotta focus on one possession, one quarter at a time and just keep building off that and then keep fighting and we’ll go from there.'”
Game 5 is set on Wednesday at Cleveland, with the Knicks having a chance to advance to the second round since 2013.
Josh Hart Echoes Jalen Brunson’s Sentiments
NBA Playoffs debutant Josh Hart echoed Brunson’s message to the team.
“Just echoing the same thing with [Brunson],” Hart told reporters after the game. “We still got [to win] another game. [Cleveland] is a tough opponent, and we saw in Game 2 two that if we don’t bring it, you know how good they can be.”
The Cavaliers ambushed the Knicks in Game 2 107-90 as they played desperate and more physical after losing Game 1.
“We’re going into their home now. So, they’re going to be ready. Obviously, the crowd is going to be crazy, the atmosphere is going to be wild, but we just got to focus on getting better as a team and having attention to details and focused on the task at hand,” Hart added.
Donovan Mitchell Owns Blame
Donovan Mitchell, who was held to a series-low 11 points on 5-for-18 shooting, including a two-point second-half showing, is expected to bounce back in Game 5.
“I didn’t show up for my guys,” Mitchell told reporters after the game. “Ultimately, everybody did their job. We had our faults as a group, but ultimately, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. I take that. I gotta be better.”
Hart played a crucial role in slowing down Mitchell, who committed four of his six turnovers against his defense.
Hart is expected to start anew in Game 5 if Quentin Grimes continues to be sidelined by a shoulder contusion.