‘Everything Happens For a Reason’: Knicks' Jalen Brunson Speaks Before Facing Mavs
The Dallas Mavericks are set to face off against their former rising star, Jalen Brunson, for the first time since his departure in free agency to join the New York Knicks. Tipoff is at 11:30 a.m. CDT on Saturday.
Brunson is off to a highly impressive start to the season with the Knicks and doesn't seem to be looking back anytime soon. He's averaging 21.3 points and 6.5 assists while shooting 48.6 percent from the floor. So far, his Knicks are 10-12, while the Mavs are not faring much better at 10-11.
“I just think that they’re trying to get a rhythm, kind of just like us," Brunson on the Mavs' slow start to the season. "We have moments where we look like a really good team, moments where we look one step away, I mean, moments we just don't look like a team at all.
"We're still growing. I think a lot of teams are going through that right now. Once teams catch their stride and once we catch out stride, we'll be in a good place, and I think they're in a similar place right now.”
Right now, the Mavs are struggling to replace Brunson's production. The team thrived with a formula that featured a rotation of three dynamic ball handlers — Luka Doncic, Brunson, and Spencer Dinwiddie — putting pressure on the defense throughout the course of a game. They lack that secondary threat right now, and the team hasn't clicked when Doncic and Dinwiddie share the floor.
“Obviously, what he brought to us was amazing and helped us, and you would like to have that production back,” Mavs general manager Nico Harrison said on 1310 The Ticket.
During the summer, the Mavs felt they could get by without Brunson by viewing it as a need to replace his scoring. Dallas felt as though getting back Tim Hardaway Jr. from injury and adding Christian Wood would be enough to get it done. Again, considering they thrived with a three-headed ball handler attack in the playoffs, it hasn't worked.
Does Brunson have any emotions about facing the Mavs, the team he played an integral part in leading to the Western Conference Finals last season? The answer was what you'd expect from Brunson, who brings a consistent approach to each game.
"No, at the end of the day, when you step between those lines, you go out there and you're competing. It's the same approach, same mentality, I'm just playing against a former team."
The Mavs have a strong familiarity of Brunson's tendencies and skill-set and vice versa. He doesn't believes that it's going to come down to "who wants it more" as opposed to X's and O's.
"However the defense is going to play, I'm going to have to read it. Like I said before, they know me, I know them,” Brunson said. “It’s going to be a battle of just who wants it more. That's really it."
Mavs general manager Nico Harrison recently stated that not re-signing Brunson "wasn't our choice" during a Q&A with The Dallas Morning News. Brunson explained that he has a strong relationship with Harrison that pre-dates their Mavs situation, but "everything happens for a reason."
I've known Nico for a very long time before he was with the Mavericks," Brunson said. "We have a great relationship. ... Like I said before, everything happens for a reason, and that's that."
Brunson still has close relationships with his former Mavs teammates. He wishes them continued success, but as any competitor would, he wants to get the win when facing them.
"I do talk to those guys a lot,' Brunson said. "I wish them, obviously, success — healthy. I hope they do great, all that stuff. Obviously, when we play, I want to win. I build really good relationships over there. It's nothing but love over there. When you step between those lines, it's game on."
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