Knicks: 3 best moments from Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart playoff pressers

New York Knicks fans didn’t know what they had been missing out on. This time last year, the Jalen Brunson to the Knicks chatter had already started, but Josh Hart wasn’t on the radar. That all changed ahead of the February trade deadline when the only deal that New York made was centered around sending Cam Reddish and a 2023 protected first-round pick to Portland for Hart.

Brunson’s reaction was everything when he found out while he was still on Villanova’s campus after having his jersey retired. The same place where his friendship with Hart started and where the two brought home the 2016 national title.

Hart was selected in 2017 by the Jazz and then traded to the Lakers on draft night and Brunson had his turn a year later when he was drafted by the Mavericks. Fate has a weird way of working out because six years after they last played together at Villanova, the two were reunited on the Knicks.

Now, the Villanova duo has proven to be instrumental for New York. In what was an otherwise ugly game for the Knicks, Brunson and Hart combined for 20 of the team’s final 24 points in Tuesday’s Game 2 win over the Heat, tying the series at 1-1.

To say that it’s been enjoyable for Knicks fans to watch Brunson and Hart play together would be an understatement, but what’s been even better for fans is the enjoyment that they’ve gotten from watching the two together in their postgame press conferences.

3 best playoff press conference moments between Knicks’ Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart

3. The pizza that hit

Josh Hart is known for eating food in his postgame press conferences, and while it may annoy Jalen Brunson, the man’s got to eat. After tying the semifinals at 1-1, Hart was stuffing his face with Ledo’s Pizza.

When Brunson and Hart were asked what was the feeling after splitting the first two games of the series at MSG, Brunson looked over at Hart, who had just put a bite of pizza in his mouth. Brunson said, “You can finish chewing.” Hart’s response was, “This pizza is hitting.”

2. The Jalen Brunson SLAM Magazine shirt

In the Knicks’ first game of the playoffs on April 15 in Cleveland, Josh Hart showed up in a shirt that had Jalen Brunson’s SLAM Magazine cover on it.

Hart wore it in the postgame press conference, too. Brunson was asked if he was embarrassed by Hart’s shirt and after glancing over at him and smirking, Brunson said, “Nah, we’ve been through worse.”

Hart just wanted to wear “a handsome photo” of Brunson on his shirt. He said he was never going to wear it again, though, because Brunson got in early foul trouble in Game 1. Luckily, the Knicks were still able to pull out the win.

1. The chicken wing annoyance

If there’s a player that’s going to eat chicken wings in his postgame press conference after winning a playoff game, it’s Josh Hart. After New York won the first-round series over Cleveland with a Game 5 victory, Hart was devouring wings and listening to Brunson’s response to a question.

Brunson immediately looked over at him and said, “Don’t do this again.” The game before, Hart was eating popcorn and distracted Brunson. Hart turned his body away from Brunson so that he could eat in peace, which got a smile out of the point guard.

Jay Wright was right (get it?) in saying that the Brunson-Hart duo compares to the Kenny Smith-Charles Barkley duo. Brunson is the serious one but Hart can typically still manage to get Brunson to crack a smile.

Not only have Knicks fans got to see the two rise to the moment in the playoffs, but they’ve gotten to enjoy their comedy acts, too. Keep Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart in New York forever, please!

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