With the Knicks' Jalen Brunson leading, they'll always find a way
The Knicks' Jalen Brunson shows off his MVP trophy to teammates after the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the Emirates NBA Cup championship game at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Credit: Getty Images/Ethan Miller
LAS VEGAS — When the confetti had settled to the floor at T-Mobile Arena and the photos were all taken, players and coaches smiling as they grasped at the NBA Cup trophy and displayed their medals, the Knicks retreated to the locker room to finish their celebration and thenmove on.
They won’t hang a banner to commemorate the victory and they will talk about goals beyond the in-season tournament. But just because it won’t hang in the rafters of Madison Square Garden doesn’t mean the victory won’t endure. This was about moments and there was one that should endure as long as the dusty banners do.
There were moments throughout the game — the how-did-he-do-that pass by Karl-Anthony Towns, Mitchell Robinson outmuscling Victor Wembanyama to dominate the boards, Josh Hart’s block of De’Aaron Fox and clutch three-point field goal on the other end or any number of fourth-quarter heroics from Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Kolek.
But the one that really should last, that the Knicks hope to recall in June and one that maybe, if the Knicks can achieve something greater than this, you’ll tell your kids about someday the way other generations wistfully recall Willis Reed hobbling out of the tunnel at Madison Square Garden or Walt Frazier dancing through the Lakers' defense, came when Jalen Brunson was handed the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.
It was the moment to celebrate the win and to celebrate himself, Brunson earning an award that had gone to LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo in prior years, placing himself among those elite names. But he offered something else.
“Can I say something?,” Brunson said. “OG Anunoby, Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson, they played their [butts] off tonight, Without them, we don’t win this. We got down 10, whatever it was and we found a way to win. That’s it. That’s going to be our motto going forward. We’re going to find a way.”
Brunson certainly has his moments on the court, but it was there, with the celebration still going on behind him, that the audience in the arena and viewers all over got to see something more.
“He's an unbelievable competitor, but an unbelievable teammate,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I've been around those guys. You're talking about Tim Duncan, Steph Curry, those guys, [De'Aaron Fox, LeBron James]. Those guys all mention their teammates because bang, bang, bang, they know this is a team sport at the end of the day.
"That's why he is not just the MVP when it comes to hooping, but he is the MVP in a lot of different ways. I'm just lucky, fortunate, blessed, however you want to call it, to be able to work with a young man like that. Shoutout to his parents for sure, and his sister and his wife.”
Brunson’s highlights on the floor are almost too many to mention now, including the 40-point performance in the Cup semifinal win over Orlando. But what makes him different than so many stars and makes the Knicks a team that could be a serious contender for the NBA title this season is his maturity. It’s not just Brunson. Mikal Bridges and Hart have won NCAA titles alongside him. Towns has been through more than decade of the NBA grind . Anunoby was part of a Toronto Raptors championship squad.
So while the Knicks aren’t going to raise a banner to commemorate this victory, it certainly could provide another stepping stone in the team’s growth. Take the last three seasons when the Knicks reached the Eastern Conference semifinals twice and then advanced to the conference finals last season and couple it with this celebration of a hard-fought win, a team victory, and they can dream about something more.
“A game like this, an environment like this, you don't really see around the NBA too often.” Brunson said. “We’ve got to take advantage of the experience that we got here . . . But I think most importantly from all of us is the way we stuck together through, like I said, being down 10 in the third and them kind of controlling the game throughout the game. Us just finding a way. Going on the run in the fourth with the help of our bench, it was big-time. The way they played, like I said, there's a reason I said that first before I said anything else because without them we don't win this game.”
The captain didn’t have to say any more. He’d let others talk about the MVP honors and his own contributions. Instead, it was a night to remember and then move on with a lesson learned.
“We're going to find a way,” Brunson said. “We're going to fight. We're not going to quit. We're going to go out there and do what we got to do. When we fail in those moments, we tip our hats, we respect the other team and we move forward. But we're not going to quit. We're not going to lay down. Like I said, we're going to find a way.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
