The Knicks took Game 1 for the fourth consecutive series this postseason and Jalen Brunson had a brilliant signature game to add to a growing collection of closing time hits.
Brunson and the Knicks scored the final 11 points, holding the Spurs without a point in the last two minutes, 15 seconds.
It was just one game. But it felt like much more.
Brunson is shooting 58 percent in the fourth quarter this postseason. While the world rushed to prepare a crown for Victor Wembanyama, Brunson was going on a personal 8-0 run, leading the Knicks back from 14 down and tapping the final nail in the coffin with 13 points in the fourth.
“He’s a gamer, man. In the biggest moments, he shows up,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “That’s what MVPs are supposed to do. We put the ball in his hands, said we were going to live and die with him, he went and got it done for us.”
Brunson limped to the locker room with an apparent knee injury in the first half. But he walked with confidence and certainty that he was going to will the Knicks to a 1-0 series lead when crunch time arrived.
“Phenomenal player,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of Brunson. “He had a phenomenal game. Again 30 points on 31 shots it’s something where you want to keep making him work for those points.”
For the Spurs to make this more than a Brunson coronation, the Finals calls for Wembanyama and others to find easier shots and points when it matters.
Johnson said he plans to counter by getting Wembanyama the ball closer to the room, to score points in the paint and work near the rim.
Those are a reasonable start, an effort at gaining traction, but Wembanyama didn’t have an answer in Game 1. It’s his call where this series goes from here.
“Get him moving in space and toward the rim, whether that’s on rolls or in transition, but we need the pressure on the rim,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have enough pressure on the paint all night.”
