Jalen Brunson Unsatisfied After New York Knicks' 'Unacceptable' Loss
New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was unhappy with the team's
"unacceptable" effort in a loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Brunson took care of his end of the bargain, scoring a game-best 35 points in the 116-113 loss, but that wasn't enough to beat a Phoenix group missing both Bradley Beal (back) and Kevin Durant (foot) and was instead led by a stellar outing for Devin Booker, one capped off by a game-winning three-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining. Booker's heroics followed up a Brunson jumper that saw him tie the game with just over 21 seconds remaining.
“It’s easy to say, ‘No KD, no Beal, one of those nights,’ ” Brunson said. “But those are the things that we can control. We can’t really control the ball going in the hoop. We can’t control the way the refs are calling the game. We can’t control that. Something like that is what we can control, so that’s unacceptable for us and we just gotta be better.”
Brunson (11) led all scorers with 35 points in Sunday's loss to Phoenix
Wendell Cruz, USA TODAY SPORTS
Brunson and others were particularly perturbed by the Knicks' shortcomings on the boards: the Suns outrebounded the Knicks 47-38, including 18-13 on offense to earn 20 second chance points.
Sunday's game was another strong start to the week for Brunson, proving that his Eastern Conference Player of the Week nomination was no fluke. The loss to Phoenix marked Brunson's third 30-point effort over the last five games, where he's shooting 54 percent from the field.
The Knicks (9-7) resume play on Tuesday night when they close In-Season Tournament group play against the Charlotte Hornets (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG). Brunson has saved his best for Group B play, as he's currently third among scorers in In-Season Tournament games (min. 3 games played).
