Short memory: Brunson quickly eyes what’s next
Tom Thibodeau often condenses his praise of Jalen Brunson by saying little more than “Jalen was Jalen,” a catch-all description that enables the Knicks’ coach to not have to constantly repeat himself regarding his best player’s exploits.
But asked to go beyond that short phrase following Tuesday’s Game 5 victory over the Pacers, Thibodeau gave two expansive answers that underscored Brunson’s vast importance in leading the Knicks to the precipice of advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000.
“You’re right, and you’re making a great point, because as much as you talk about him — and you talk about him a lot, and rightfully so — it’s not enough in what it means to the team,” Thibodeau said. “He’s so willing to share everything with his teammates, and I’ve told you, to me, that’s the best part of him. His play is spectacular, but who he is as a teammate, as a leader, it makes us that.
“Whether it’s big shot after big shot — and I just love there’s never any excusemaking from him. He’s never talking about injuries. A lot of times, you hear people talking about their injuries. A lot of it is excuse-making. You never get that from him. It’s always, ‘I’ll be better next game.’ Even when he plays a great game, it’s, ‘I’ll be better next game.’ And I love that mentality.”
That certainly was Brunson’s insistence after having two rough games in Indiana while dealing with a right foot issue, totaling 44 points on 37.2 percent shooting as the Pacers evened the series with back-toback victories. The All-Star point guard then matched that scoring output in Game 5 alone, marking his fifth game among 11 postseason appearances with at least 40 points and five assists.
“I think as a team, no matter what the situation is, we have the same mindset no matter what,” Brunson said. “Regardless of how I’m feeling or how someone else is feeling, we know what’s at stake, we know what we have to do and we’re going to figure it out.”
Brunson suddenly is one shy of Bernard King’s franchise mark for 40-point games in one postseason (1984), two behind Michael Jordan’s career-best in that category (1989) and three shy of the NBA record for one playoff year shared by Jerry West (1965) and LeBron James (2018).
But more than that, Brunson looked like himself again after struggling to get separation from defenders in Games 3 and 4 — appearing healthier, fresher and more comfortable within Thibodeau’s adjustment to start Miles McBride over Precious Achiuwa to provide another ball-handler and offensive option.
“He’s always aggressive. He’s always able to really dictate at his own pace,” teammate
Josh Hart said of Brunson. “We were able to get him off the ball a little bit in terms of bringing the ball up and taking some of that physical toll off of him. He was able to get to his spots and knock shots down. That’s a good sign, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t carry over our energy for Friday.”
Surely, there were other good signs for the Knicks in Game 5, including a 20-5 edge in offensive rebounds — including 12 by Isaiah Hartenstein — and 18 points off the bench by the formerly banished Alec Burks.
But especially amid injuries to four rotation regulars, the Knicks will go as far as Brunson takes them.
“Sometimes people forget. Everyone, we’ve all come to expect him to be superhuman every night,” Thibodeau said. “He’s an incredible player. He’s loaded up on every night. He’s the focal point of everyone’s game plan.
“Sometimes it’s a case of missing shots, and they could be good shots. So I think we all tend to forget that, and the thing I love about his approach is he never gets crazy. He’s like a machine every day, he comes in locked in, this is what he’s gonna do, he’ll be ready for the next game.”
The Knicks are one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since consecutive trips in 1999 and 2000.
And coach Tom Thibodeau sees similarities between his current team and the ones he served as an assistant coach under head coach Jeff Van Gundy a quarter-century ago.
“I think the togetherness and tenacity. Every player is different, every team is a little different, but I think the commitment to each other, that’s similar,” Thibodeau said Tuesday following the Knicks’ Game 5 victory over the Pacers. “I think the toughness, that aspect of it is similar. But we still got a long way to go.”
Led by Thibodeau and current star Jalen Brunson, the Knicks will take a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 on Friday night at Indiana.
They advanced to the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed in 1999 before falling to the Spurs in five games, and they lost in the conference finals the next year to Reggie Miller and the Pacers in Patrick Ewing’s final season with the team.
Several members of those squads were in attendance at Tuesday’s game at the Garden: Ewing, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell and Herb Williams.
“Every year, I felt with Patrick and John [Starks] and Larry and Spree and those guys, we always felt like we had a chance to win it, and we went deep every year if we were healthy,” said Thibodeau, who was a Knicks assistant from 1996-2003. “There was a consistency to it, every year you felt like you had a good chance to win [the championship].
“I’ve done it once as an assistant in Boston [in 2008], but you need some good fortune. We got to the Finals in ’99, we had two big shots — Allan’s shot obviously against Miami, and Larry’s four-point [play] against Indiana. You need good fortune to go along with it, but you need a commitment of the team to each other to get that done.”
According to a picture posted on social media by the Knicks, there were at least 13 alumni at Tuesday’s victory — most prominently Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Bill Bradley, members of the Knicks’ last championship teams in 1970 and 1973.
Starks, Carmelo Anthony, Stephon Marbury, Tim Thomas, Wilson Chandler and Kyle O’Quinn also were in attendance.