Sometimes, you need to see something to believe it. Even if you've seen it before, the reminder can go a long way. Especially if some time has passed since one's last encounter with whatever entity is making them feel doubtful.
Fans of the New York Knicks got one of those reminders from Jalen Brunson on Monday night. It was exactly the one they had been looking for: the superstar point guard found his cape.
While it may have taken him the first three quarters of the game to heat up, Captain Clutch certainly came through. Brunson entered the game's final quarter shooting 5-16 from the floor; he scored 17 points on 6-10 shooting in the fourth.
Brunson levels up in crunch time, helps Knicks take down Hawks
The Knicks' captain finished with totals of 30 points and 13 assists, but that doesn't come close to telling the story of his night. Without the quarter-by-quarter context, it'd be easy to think Brunson simply had a classic performance: slicing and dicing opposing defenses for countless buckets.
But that was far from the case on Monday night, with the Atlanta Hawks' athletic defense working hard to impede Brunson from plucking any low-hanging fruit. Karl-Anthony Towns helped carry the offensive weight in the meantime, though.
And OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson's defensive contributions, particularly in the third quarter, helped the Knicks erase the deficit that had been staring them down. New York was getting what they should expect from their ancillary talent, aside from Josh Hart.
In the fourth quarter, though, the two Villanovan "roommates" got together and decided that the Knicks were going to win the basketball game. They did what it took to make that happen. Hart stepped it up on the defensive side of the floor, and Brunson delievered score after score.
Jalen Brunson had 13 points and 12 assists on 5-16 FG in the first three quarters.
— Kris Pursiainen (@krispursiainen) April 7, 2026
His 17 points and one assist on 6-10 FG in eight 4Q minutes just won the Knicks the game.
Captain Clutch took a little hiatus. But on the day after Easter…… well, I’ll be-
It was a winning formula for the Knicks, who were starting to face some pressure from the media regarding their lack of recent wins against playoff-caliber teams. But at the end of the day, New York has to continue to play whatever team appears on their schedule that day.
They'll finish out the regular season with three more games at home before embarking on a journey they hope lasts until mid-June: the 2025-26 NBA Playoffs.
While it'll be important for New York to keep the ball zipping around the court in a postseason setting, it might arguably be more important for them to have a superstar-level isolation scorer who can put the round, orange sphere inside of the round, orange circle. Brunson showed them they had one of the best out there with his performance in Atlanta.