Through two games against the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks are giving Jalen Brunson the most unexpected, and foreign, of luxuries: a margin for error.
Imagine how dangerous the Orange and Blue will be when he longer needs it.
Do not conflate this with saying New York hasn’t needed Brunson to chisel out its 2-0 lead over Boston, after overcoming consecutive 20-point deficits. On the contrary, even as he’s been less than otherworldly, the Knicks have needed him to close. He hit what turned out to be the clincher in Game 1, and he made two free throws late in Game 2 to give his team a one-point lead while nine points in the final frame overall.
Still, by his own superhuman standards, Brunson is not dominating the offense wire-to-wire. And where this could be a sign of New York’s fallibility, it instead feels like a blessing in disguise.
Brunson has been good vs. the Celtics, but not great
Brunson is now averaging 23 points and six assists for the series, while knocking down just eight of his 24 two-point attempts (33.3 percent), including a 6-of-18 clip out of his patented drives (33.3 percent). The Captain is draining 38.9 percent of his triples, but the mark is carried by his 5-of-9 showing in Game 1. He reverted below the mean in Game 2, going 2-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Credit Boston’s defense for Brunson’s “struggles.” They aren’t fouling him nearly as frequently on his downhill attacks, and though his shot diet is never easy, they’re making it a special brand of difficult.
Slightly more of his looks are coming under heavy contests than they did in the first round, and more than that, they’re forcing the ball out of his hands at a higher clip. After posting a 32.8 usage rate against the Detroit Pistons, Brunson is at 29.7 versus the Celtics. His 27.4 percent usage rate in Game 2, specifically, is his lowest of these playoffs.
Had you told anyone Brunson would tally under 20 points on Wednesday night, they’d have likely assumed the Knicks lost. Sure, New York is now 12-4 on the season when he scores fewer than 20 points. But these are the playoffs, and the Knicks are facing the reigning champs. Peak Brunson is supposed to be their lifeline.
None of this is meant to short shrift what Brunson is doing, and trying to do. If anything, the extent to which he hasn’t dominated is a silver lining.
It is good to know that Mikal Bridges can take over, even if just for short stretches. The same goes for OG Anunoby, who has emerged as the Knicks’ second-most important player thanks to a deeper, more aggressive offensive bag.
Mostly, though, Brunson’s performance to this point pretty much guarantees the best has yet to come.
The Knicks will eventually get a more complete version of Brunson
We have already seen hints of it peppered throughout the Boston series. He drilled a shot to win it all in the opening tilt, and dropped nine points in the final frame Wednesday night. Where the Celtics are at a distinct disadvantage when they slow things down, New York is more at home operating in the muck thanks to Brunson. It isn’t always pretty, or even effective, but it’s closer to comfortable, and by design.
These hints, though, will inevitably extend into a full-fledged breakout, if for no other reason than that is what Brunson does.
More of his shots will go in when he gets downhill. Even against a more physical Pistons defense in Round 1, he canned almost 54 percent of his looks on drives, noticeably up from the 33.3 percent he’s hitting versus the Celtics. His pull-up jumper has not fallen at an exceptionally high rate all playoffs, but it was materially more efficient against Detroit, and the overall dip means, in Brunson’s world, he’s due for a crescendo to an extended kaboom. He is shooting 22.2 percent from the floor in the first quarter (2-of-9), including posting an opening-frame goose egg from deep (0-of-3). We all know better than to think this will hold.
For the Knicks to be up 2-0 and still waiting on a hallmark end-to-end Brunson detonation is nothing short of incredible—as puzzling as it is unlikely. It is a testament to so much: to the defense, to OG Anunoby, to Mikal Bridges, to Mitchell Robinson, to Josh Hart, to the coaching of Tom Thibodeau, even to the Celtics’ offensive self-implosion. It is a sign the Knicks are more than just Brunson.
And if history is any indication, it’s only a matter of time before Brunson thanks them with performances, plural, more complete than the ones he’s delivered so far.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.