King Brunson

Jalen Brunson, with the help of a defense playing as well as any in the NBA, delivered the Knicks their third straight win.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! I’m going to try and get something out tomorrow, but it’ll probably be shorter than usual and might not come at 5 am. What can I say…we vigorously celebrate my wife’s favorite non-Christmas holiday in the Macri household.

More than that, last night’s game deserved a special Sunday edition.

Enjoy the Guinness everyone!

Game 67: Knicks 98, Kings 91

In a New York minute…

A turnover-filled start plus several wide-open Knick misses gave this one an uneasy feeling early on. New York’s defense kept things tight though, as did Jalen Brunson, who provided the majority of the offense for much of the evening. The road team took a brief nine-point lead early in the third, but some questionable calls helped Sacto make a run, and the Knicks led by just one heading to the fourth. From there, New York’s D took over, and thanks to some unlikely contributions from a few former Pistons and the usual Brunson brilliance, the Knicks won their third straight.

Three Things

1. D-struction. Here’s the best compliment I can pay the Knicks’ defense:

Jalen Brunson just became the fourth Knick ever to score 40 points in consecutive games, joining Patrick Ewing, Carmelo Anthony and Bernard King in that club, but in this humble writer’s estimation, it wasn’t the lead story from the game.

How is that possible?

Let’s start here:

In the month of March, New York’s defense has now held six of seven opponents under 100 points, whereas the other 29 teams have done it 31 times combined.

Or how about this: They held the high flying Kings offense to 91 points - the lowest total they’ve scored in a home game at any point in the last two seasons.

Or this: the Knicks’ defensive rating this month is 98.3, which is so far and away the best defense in the league that the difference between them and the second place Pelicans is larger than the gap between New Orleans and the 17th place Suns.

One last one: New York is 5-2 this month despite sporting the fifth worst offense in the NBA.

For anyone who remembers the Knick title teams or the 90’s, both of which saw New York set the league standard for smart, hard-nosed defense, this is what Knicks basketball should be.

Yes, this is the NBA, where elite offensive talents were, are and always will be the most valuable commodity.

But Sacramento scored their 91st point with 2:31 remaining in this game. They had six more possessions after that, and came up empty on every single one.

Unreal effort, execution, and dedication by these Knicks.

2. JAY BEE BABY. How can someone so short in stature carry so much responsibility?