Jalen Brunson Shines In Shocking Knicks Return

Perhaps channeling his inner Spike Lee, New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau credited footwear for the latest breakout performance from his franchise face.

"Yeah, I think he changed his shoes," was all an awed Thibodeau could muster when asked about point guard/captain Jalen Brunson's second half exit from Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal set with the Detroit Pistons (h/t SNY).

Before the Knicks eventually escaped with a 94-93 victory over the Pistons — one that has them one win away from Eastern advancement — metropolitan hearts stopped on Sunday when Brunson, endured an apparent lower body injury after a fight for the ball with Detroit depth star Dennis Schroder.

Things were bad enough for the Knicks, who were watching a 16-point lead become an 11-tally deficit amidst an anemic third quarter, but the shot of Brunson sitting in front of the scorer's table and nursing the same ankle that kept him out for a month of late regular season action was pure nightmare fuel for the Manhattan faithful.

Some were no doubt shocked when Brunson, who briefly fled for the Knick locker room, not only returned to the bench in time for the fourth quarter but applied for re-entry just over 100 seconds into the final frame. Anyone in the Brunson family, immediate or extended, was unlikely among them.

"In moments like that you've got to take a breath, relax, and think about what's going on," Brunson said of the immediate aftermath of the Schroder tangle-up (h/t New York Basketball on X). "I realize that I just needed to readjust and make sure that I was mentally ready to get back because I was going to go back into the game. There really wasn't a doubt, regardless of if I was stumbling or not."

A prescription of clutch play more or less cured Brunson: uniting with fellow New York headliner Karl-Anthony Towns for a fantastic fourth, Brunson scored 15 points in the last 10 minutes of action, which saw the Knicks methodically eat away at the late Detroit lead. To make matters all the sweeter, Brunson not only vindicated those who shilled for him as the Clutch Player of the Year over Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards but also pulled off the fourth quarter feat without the benefit of a free throw, defying the narrative that has followed him throughout the early stages of the postseason.

Brunson ended the game with 31 points, his fourth consecutive triple-decade performance. He's the first Knick in franchise to begin the postseason with such box scores and the first since Michael Jordan did so in his final championship run in 1998.

It's the latest example of metropolitan magic from Brunson, who has left a sterling impression on his New York teammates.

"All I'm going to say is that I learned a lot from JB. He has the [Clutch Player] award for a reason," Towns, who stole the spotlight from Brunson with the game-winning three-pointer, said in video from SNY. "I'm just trying to do my best Jalen Brunson impression. I'm just happy, tonight, that it looked good."

"He’s going to take us to the promised land,” added past and present teammate Mikal Bridges, per Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. "At the end of the game and that fourth quarter, he’s going to make those shots, make big plays, just who he’s always been. As much as he’s aggressive, I think a lot of shots are just, you don’t want to lose. I think it’s just his grit to win and that’s why I like him going.”

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