In the 1970s, Walt Frazier ran it. In the mid 1980s, Bernard King ran it after two young guards named Michael Ray Richardson and Ray Williams provided a glimmer of hope for what could be the next era. Richardson was traded for King, to the Golden State Warriors, prior to the ‘82-‘83 season. In 1985, a number one draft choice out of Georgetown University ushered in a new era. For the next 14 seasons, 11 playoff appearances including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in ‘93 and a Finals appearance the next year validated Patrick Ewing as a franchise cornerstone. Another Finals appearance, this one in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 campaign, by a group led by Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston (Ewing, 36, missed the last nine games of the playoffs due to injury) got the city’s hopes up for the new millennium.
Down years in the mid-2000s were succeeded by more hope, at the dawn of the 2010s with Amare Stoudamire and then in 2012-2013 with a 54-win team led by Carmelo Anthony that made the Conference Semifinals. Eight years would pass before another playoff berth, an upset in the first round at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks. 2022-23 would spell a second round exit, bringing us to where we are today.
Today, the Knicks are right once again near the top of the heap, a 50-32 record in '23-'24 good enough for second in the Eastern Conference.
All of the above names had different career trajectories, different results. Some stars, some superstars, some stars for a brief moment in time. But they all had one thing in common - that at one particular moment, they represented the brand of New York Knick basketball.
Just like those before him, Jalen Brunson has represented that. Now, he is making it his own personal quest to ensure that for him, it stays that way.
Leading a group that resembles the identity and intensity of their head coach Tom Thibodeau, Brunson, an All-Star this past season, has been dominant for his team with a rather quick ascension in the NBA's point guard ranks. Steady, smart, fearless, consistent.
Three-time All-Star Julius Randle has been out since Jan. 29, and played just 46 games this season due to a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery. While Brunson's numbers were there when Randle was on the floor - games of 45, 42, 50, 41 - he has been even more impressive without his all-star teammate. Games of 40, 45, 42, 61, 43, 45, and 40 all happened post-Jan. 29. He finished with a 28.7 points per game average in the regular season (fourth in the NBA), and his 35.6 points per game through Game 2 of the second round (the Knicks lead the Indiana Pacers 2-0) leads all. Wednesday night in Game 2, he exited in the first half with a foot injury. Ironically on the anniversary of Wilis Reed’s return in Game 7 in 1970, Brunson valiantly returned for the second half. He ended the game with 29 points in the Knicks’ 130-121 come-from-behind victory. 24 of his 29 came in the second half.
Leadership. Toughness.
In the postseason, like the greats do, Brunson has stepped up his game. First in the Knicks' 4-2 series win over the Philadelphia 76ers (22, 24, 39 and 13 assists, 47 and 10 assists, 40 and 6 assists, 41 and 12 assists) and now through two games when a familiar playoff rival touched down for the Conference Semifinals.
Facing a Pacer team that disposed of the Milwaukee Bucks 4-2 in the opening round, Brunson is up against another star point guard, this one (Tyrese Haliburton) one that was chosen over Brunson to represent Team USA at the Paris Olympics in August. No matter for Brunson.
In Game 1, the 27-year old (28 in August), scored 43 points, 14-for-26 from the field and a perfect 14-of-14 from the line, adding six rebounds and six assists. In doing so, he made history.
Brunson became the first player in league history with 40-plus points and 5-plus assists in four consecutive playoff games, the 40-plus alone in four consecutive playoff games allowing him to become the first player since Michael Jordan to do so, and tying him with King, who also did it four times in 1984. Jerry West has the record, with six consecutive, in the 1965 postseason. Brunson's 210 points over a five game span in the playoffs, leading into Game 2, were the most since Jordan in '93.
After Game 2, he made more history. He joined Jordan as the only players in league history with 285-plus points and 65-plus assists through eight games in a postseason. Jordan, in 1989, registered 288 points and 65 assists. Brunson, during this run, put up 285 points and 65 assists.
It is one thing to make an All-Star team, to be ranked and thought of as not just one of the best at your position, but one of the best overall, in the league. It's a whole different thing to make history and be amongst the greatest to ever do it. Brunson, near 6 foot, 2 inches, 190 pounds and the 33rd overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft who was let go by the Dallas Mavericks after the 2021-2022 season, is doing that. In a draft that saw Luka Doncic go third, Trae Young sixth, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 11th, Brunson went 33rd, a clear afterthought to go as high as his All-Star floor general contemporaries but someone who no doubt deserved to. Collin Sexton, a career 18.9 per game scorer who has made a living as a versatile back court player, is a nice player, but he isn't Brunson. Sexton was the eighth overall pick. Going one pick before Brunson was Jevon Carter, who has carved a role as a tough minded rotational defensive point guard. Again though, not Brunson, who along with Doncic, Young, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Gilgeous-Alexander are the only All-Stars so far from that ‘18 draft.
Like those before him, Brunson has New York City at his feet. High ticket prices are the norm for MSG, and there is always a buzz. But this feels different. Charles Oakley commented that Brunson could be the best Knick since Walt Frazier. Definitely arguable, but the point is, he's put himself in that discussion at least. Knick players of the past - Ewing, King, Stephon Marbury, Rod Strickland, Marcus Camby, Larry Johnson, Tim Thomas (apologies for missing any), and Frazier, looking dapper as only he can, have occupied some of the baseline front row seats in rounds one and two. Marbury, who made quite a living as a star in China and received Chinese permanent residency, has been at Games 1 and 2. It's a 15-hour flight to New York City. Whatever the full reason for Marbury's visit, 15 hours is still 15 hours.
The buzz. The energy. Different.
And Brunson is at the forefront of it all.
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