Jalen Brunson Seeks to Do 'Everything' Better as Knicks Fight Back

A 2-0 series deficit hasn't taken the fight out of Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks.

May 23, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) shoots a three point shot against the Indiana Pacers in the third quarter during game two of the eastern conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Don't expect the New York Knicks' parlay with the Indiana Pacers to end peacefully.

The Knicks are waiting all day for Sunday night as their Eastern Conference Finals set shifts to the Indiana Pacers' home at Gainbridge Fieldhouse (8 p.m. ET, TNT). New York is down 2-0 in the best-of-seven set and will look to become the first NBA playoff team to recover from such a deficit.

Such a spotlight is firmly planted on captain and point guard Jalen Brunson, who will have to live up to the purest definition of his newly-installed "Clutch Player of the Year" title. His metropolitan faith appears to be unwavering if his pregame statements from Indianapolis are any indication.

"Everything we need to do has to be better. Our next game, our most important game, we've just got to go out there and fight."

- Jalen Brunson pic.twitter.com/3BP991kWCa

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) May 25, 2025

"We're a confident group," Brunson said prior to Game 3 in video from SNY. "We just know that our back's against the wall. We've just got to go out there and go out swinging."

Brunson has frequently and publicly professed faith in his teammates despite the early deficit. The seemingly dire hole is hardly of his making: through two games, Brunson has put up 79 points and 16 assists despite somewhat losing his outside touch (just over 33 percent from deep).

Brunson knows that only a team-wide expansion of effort, however, will pave the way to an improbable comeback.

"Everything we need to do has to be better," Brunson said in another video from SNY. "Our next game, our most important game, we've just got to go out there and fight."

The way back will be a bumpy one for the Knicks, who previously fell victim to a 2-0 comeback from the Pacers during last spring's conference semifinals: only six teams have overcome an 0-2 hole in the conference final round and none of those victors dropped the first two stanzas at home. The Knicks themselves haven't won a series in such a predicament since 1990, when they won a best-of-five series against the Boston Celtics in 1990's first round.

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