Brunson Saves Knicks from Embarrassing Loss
The Charlotte Hornets were missing their starting back court against the New York Knicks. Only Jalen Brunson’s heroics prevented a very embarrassing loss in the Knicks 134 – 131 OT victory. The teams were tied at 122 in regulation. Jalen led the Knicks with a very efficient 8 of 16, including 2 – 4 from deep for 27 pt. Brunson also set a personal record with 13 assists. As per mike Vaccaro in the NY Post regarding Jalen’s play down the stretch: “It was a monumental 3 to help close that late gap in regulation, then another in OT, plus a technical free throw and an inside basket, along with a gorgeous no-look pass to Mitch Robinson for a key dunk.”
https://nypost.com/2022/10/27/how-jalen-brunson-already-has-changed-the-knicks/
Why were these heroics necessary? Lets start with the defense that allowed 122 points to a team missing their starting back court. DSJ and Theo Maledon played well but they were not LeMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, even when you throw in James Bouknight’s 5 – 9, 2- 5 for 13, giving the 3 guards a total of 42 points on the night. The Hornets shot 42% for beyond the arc.
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401468213
With Mitchell Robinson anchoring the Knick defense, the Hornets still managed to shoot a respectable 50% and an unacceptable 42% from deep. Mitch had 6 blocks in support of the porous New York D. Thibs has Randle and Fournier taking defense seriously. Randle has replaced his offensive fouls (= TOs) with penalties on the other end. Fournier fouled out against Charlotte. The effort is there, but the execution is poor. RJ suffers too many blow byes and back doors, and never fights through screens. Brunson too, puts in the effort but is victimized by bigger guards. The next seven games against better teams will be very tough games to win with the defense the Knicks have put forth in these last three wins against weak teams missing key players.
Without the extraordinary play of Jalen Brunson, the New York Knicks would have lost this game to weak team missing their starting back court. If this performance was a sign of what to expect from the Knicks D, then we will lose a lot of high scoring games.