Jalen Brunson defines Knicks’ dramatic transformation into contenders
NY Post
Jalen Brunson is the Knicks, and the Knicks are him.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said precisely that about Jimmy Butler during the playoffs last spring, and that quote feels completely applicable to the massive impact Brunson, the first-time All-Star point guard, is having as the Knicks continue to zoom up the Eastern Conference standings with nine straight wins entering Saturday’s game against the Lakers.
“A lot of guys play the game of basketball in this league. He competes to win. That’s a different language,” Spoelstra said of Butler after the eighth-seeded Heat defeated the top-seeded Bucks in the first round of the playoffs last spring. “He’s desperate and urgent and maniacal and sometimes psychotic about the will to try to win.
“He’ll make everybody in the building feel it. And that’s why he is us and we are him.”
Julius Randle also was named an All-Star for the third time in four years, giving the Knicks two players headed to the league’s showcase in-season event for the first time since 2013, although the power forward will need to be replaced on the East roster due to his dislocated right shoulder.
Tom Thibodeau, meanwhile, was named the East’s top coach in January with the Knicks posting a 14-2 mark amid various injuries, and the team’s supporting players absolutely have stepped up in those absences.
On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being paid handsomely for his breakout season.
Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
It was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but for the Rangers, it’s been All About The Kids for months.
PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.