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.
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