Steve Popper: Even after ending Knicks' 53-year title wait, Jalen Brunson gets cut little slack
Jalen Brunson of the Knicks reacts after hitting a three-point shot during the first quarter against the Nets at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
If you wanted to know, to really get the idea, of what, “a New York minute” is really like, just consider the case of Jalen Brunson.
The rightly-crowned King of New York, Brunson led the Knicks to their first championship in 53 years and did it not just on the strength of his considerable talent, but by doing things the right way. A captain on and off the court, he set the tone and led the team on a run which resulted in a parade through the Canyon of Heroes and a summer spent celebrating the team.
A 53-year wait celebrated and it took six games for some fans to turn?
Let’s all acknowledge that social media is not real life. How can it be when we look at the response to Brunson and the Knicks in the opening days of this season. With the team off to a 2-4 start ahead of Monday’s 103-90 win over the Nets, their 15th straight win over Brooklyn dating back to January 28, 2023, Brunson appeared at Madison Square Garden on Halloween night.
It wasn’t for a Knicks game, but for a Harry Styles concert, a night which a banner was being raised to honor his 30 consecutive nights performing at the Garden. Brunson took to the stage and spoke — just as he had less than two weeks earlier as the Knicks were celebrated with the championship banner being raised to the rafters and championship rings handed out.
“My name is Jalen Brunson, welcome to Madison Square Garden,” he said while MVP chants rang through the cross-section of Harry Styles/Knicks fans who knew who he is. “Just wanted to be here and congratulate you on your 30th night . . . A couple of weeks ago, Harry was so kind to join me and my team on our banner night, I thought I, on behalf of MSG and the Knicks, would do the same.”
And as that made its way around the internet, like you’d expect it with the convergence of Harry Styles fans and Jalen Brunson fans, the fan base, or at least the Twitter/X crowd, had its say.
The polite responses were “Win a game,” or “Can we stop with the shows and get back to winning basketball?”
The printable ones heading in the other direction. “Get your priorities straight my guy. This the [stuff] you do when you're winning. It ain't last year.” And let’s just say it descended from there.
Let’s be clear, just like a year ago, the Knicks are bound to have their ups and downs. There was the 2-9 stretch in midseason, the 2-3 start to the seasonThere even was the two games to one deficit in the opening round of the playoffs before everything seemed to click and the team went on a historic run, winning 14 of 15 games and doing it with record-setting margins and incredible comebacks.
And after six games, Brunson was getting grief for not being in the gym at 9 p.m. on a day off? For the social media crowd, the message would be, relax.
The Knicks looked as if they were sleepwalking their way through Monday’s game before a 16-2 burst to start the fourth quarter helped them put away the Nets at Madison Square Garden. Brunson carried them early with nine of his 19 points in the first quarter. A boost from Landry Shamet off the bench kept them alive and then Josh Hart keyed the fourth quarter run, all enough to beat the one-win Nets and appease the crowd for a night.
The worries about the team certainly seem valid right now as the Knicks struggled for much of the night before emerging with the win, but style points aren’t part of the standings and Brunson did his part, they got the win and improved to 3-4, putting aside the criticism for a night.
Weren’t we just celebrating the work put in from childhood until now, watching videos of Brunson as a child sweating out workouts under the direction of his father and current Knicks assistant coach, Rick Brunson? Hasn’t that work resulted individually in a skill set of footwork and knowledge of the game that is the envy of nearly every player in the NBA?
The Knicks talked after the loss in Philadelphia about feeling some fatigue from the long postseason run and the short summer off . But no amount of offseason work mimics an actual game and it’s natural for players to round into form as the season wears on.
“The reality of it is, maybe OG [Anunoby] might be the only one that has played this long before,” Mike Brown said. “. . . It can be a mental and physical toll that can impact everybody differently. I have to be careful of not overreacting and trying to lay the hammer, especially early, on every little thing. I got to let our guys breath a little bit and get their feet underneath them. Not just from a physical standpoint, but a mental standpoint as well, because we played a lot of basketball last year and we’re right back to it.”
When the Knicks landed in Chicago last week on the second night of a back-to-back set, he could have relaxed and maybe listened to some Harry Styles records. But Brunson was in the gym, getting shots up, working on his game at an optional workout.
The social media crowd can worry about whether it’s another 53 years to a title, but they don’t need to worry whether Brunson is working hard enough. The banner in the rafters gives you that answer.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
