Jalen Brunson was the best player on the court in the fourth quarter of an NBA Finals game. While Karl-Anthony Towns had an incredible performance, especially given that defensive monster Victor Wembanyama was matched up on him, and Josh Hart's heroics helped New York pull out the win, nobody was better than Captain Clutch late in the game.
Brunson delivered 13 points on 5-9 shooting in the fourth quarter. The superstar put his case for being the best player in the Eastern Conference on film, for the world to see. And as he led the Knicks to a 10-point victory in Game 1, he showed everyone why his legacy as a basketball player is very close to changing — forever.
Brunson quietly adds to Hall of Fame case with Knicks' Game 1 Finals win
As a member of the Knicks, Brunson has made three All-NBA teams, three NBA All-Star teams, the Clutch Player of the Year award, the 2025 NBA Cup MVP, and the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals MVP.
Even if the San Antonio Spurs wind up winning the 2026 NBA Championship, the Knicks' Captain has unequivocally put together a career in orange and blue worthy of placement on the franchise's "Mount Rushmore."
It'll be time to talk about him in the top three of Knicks history if they win this series. When you add in the fact that the superstar point guard's career was already full of accolades and great stories ahead of his move to New York, it becomes difficult to ignore that Brunson is putting together a case for immortalization in Springfield, Massachussetts.
During his time at Villanova, Brunson was recognized as the consensus National Player of the Year and won two NCAA National Championships. NBA coaches spent the first several years of his Knicks tenure lauding his performance at the FIBA U-19 World Cup in 2015, explaining that they already had seen the groundwork for the point guard to thrive as a team's lead option laid out.
If Brunson ends the Knicks' 53-year championship drought, Basketball's Hall of Fame would be lucky to have him. He's every bit of the kind of superstar that fans, analysts, and even coaches claim the NBA is missing.
Sports fans ignore the gift of Jalen Brunson leading an NBA team, this NBA team, because the package he came in wasn't shaped like a superstar. Despite playing home games in New York City, the guard's historic playoff numbers haven't been enough to convince talking heads that he's worthy of being a top-10 player.
Analysts have been forced to awkwardly slide him up that list, each time he leads the Knicks to a win that nobody saw coming. If Brunson forces them to start including a championship ring in those discussions, he opens the door for a much higher place on the NBA's list of all-time great stars.
He's not there just yet. But he's only three wins away from reaching the next step.
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