Knicks' Jalen Brunson Reveals Team USA's Reasons For Success
New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson scored 10 points on 5-of-8 from the field in Team USA's dominant 110-62 win over Jordan in the FIBA World Cup on Wednesday morning.
Brunson has been one of the team's leaders on and off the court throughout their undefeated tournament run thus far. After the victory, Brunson detailed his thoughts of the FIBA World Cup as a senior player and how his team has created success.
"The tournament is crazy...anything can happen," Brunson told Sportal's Christos Tsaltas after the game. "The most important thing is you have to focus on the opponent in front of you. You can't focus on what's happening in other groups. Just focusing on what we can control. There's a lot of good teams and players here, it's all about how we come together."
There have been plenty of U.S. teams over the decades that have played in the FIBA World Cup and the Olympics with heavy expectations of taking home the gold. However, many of them have lost because they played how they normally would in the NBA. Even the 1992 "Dream Team" was said to have lost to a team of college basketball stars before the Olympics tipped off because they didn't play as a team and tried to showcase their individual abilities.
Brunson explained that's something the current Team USA has collectively agreed not to do.
"For us, it's all about putting our egos to the side," Brunson said. "We want to win, that's what we all care about. As long as that's at the forefront of our minds, we'll be alright."
Brunson, fellow Knicks teammate Josh Hart, who logged 12 rebounds as a starter today, and the rest of Team USA are aiming to continue this mindset when second round play opens against Montenegro on Friday.
