Getty Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks tries to avoid Max Strus, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry of the Miami Heat.
The New York Knicks managed to keep their season alive with a crucial Game 5 victory Wednesday night. Despite an early lead from the Miami Heat, from halftime onward it was the Knickerbocker show, and paving the way for the club was stud point guard Jalen Brunson.
As he has been seemingly throughout his first postseason endeavor in the Big Apple, the 26-year-old was lights out during his astonishing 48 minutes of action.
Following the contest, Heat star Bam Adebayo was asked how much pressure a guy like Jalen Brunson was putting on Miami’s defense in this series. In response, the big man provided an honest take on what the point guard does to keep them on their toes and what he believes they must do to counter his on-court excellence.
“I mean he’s just really crafty, that’s one thing about him. But our job is to make him take tough and difficult shots and I felt like he got into a little groove in his pocket spots. He was making his shots,” Bam Adebayo said of Jalen Brunson.
Despite not sitting down for a second during the Knicks’ pivotal Game 5 win, Jalen Brunson seemingly performed with well-rested legs as he went on to drop 38 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists while shooting 54.5% from the field and 40.0% from deep.
Jalen Brunson Did Not Expect to Play 48 Minutes For Knicks
While many fans were pleasantly surprised to see the likes of Jalen Brunson logging 48 minutes of action on the night during Game 5, so, too, was the point guard himself.
During his post-game media session, Brunson was asked if he was informed prior to tip-off by head coach Tom Thibodeau if he would be gearing up for such a heavy workload where, in response, he noted that no such conversations were had on the matter.
“[It was just the] way it happened. Nothing was said at all,” Jalen Brunson said.
Jalen Brunson says he had no discussion pregame with Tom Thibodeau about playing all 48 minutes tonight:
“Nothing was said at all. Whatever it takes.”
Brunson would finish off his retort by suggesting he’s willing to do “whatever it takes” for the Knicks to keep their season alive.
RJ Barrett Still Has Faith in Knicks
Though the Knicks may have just staved off elimination Wednesday evening, the club still finds themselves down 3-2 in their best-of-seven series against the Miami Heat. With this, one more loss would officially end New York’s season.
While history suggests the odds are certainly stacked against them, fourth-year wing RJ Barrett highlighted during his post-game media session that he still has faith in the team to rattle off two consecutive wins.
“We’re fighting for our lives right now. This is something that can be done, its been done before 13 times so we just wanted to focus and try and go get this win tonight. We were able to do that and now we got to go get one in Miami,” RJ Barrett said during a post-game interview.
“We’re fighting for our lives right now … This is something that can be done. It’s been done before 13 times.”
RJ Barrett on the Knicks coming back down 3-1.
The “13 times” RJ Barrett is referring to are the number of teams in league history who found themselves down 3-1 during a postseason series and who managed to come back and win it.
The most recent team was the Denver Nuggets back in 2020.
The 22-year-old seems to believe that this Knicks team has a legitimate shot of being the 14 team to do so and, should he produce as he did in Game 5 the rest of the way (26 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block while shooting 47.1% from the field and 37.5% from deep), their odds of accomplishing such a feat will only increase.