Making the Case: Jalen Brunson, All-Star Starter

The All-Star starters will be announced tonight. Will JB get the nod?

Good morning! The Knicks will face a tough test in the Garden tonight, but before tip-off, they’ll learn whether or not Jalen Brunson has been named a starter for the February 18 All-Star Game. Today, I’ll make the case for Brunson as a deserving All-Star starter, including looking at his toughest competition and why it’s a very close call. Let’s get to it…

Game Night

TONIGHT: Nuggets at Knicks, 7:30 pm, MSG Network

Injury Report: Isaiah Hartenstein is once again listed as questionable, but my guess is they will continue to be cautious with the injury, and I doubt he plays.

For the Nuggets, reserve guard Julius Strawther missed Tuesday’s game against Indy.

Halftime Zoom: Here’s the link for tonight.

What to watch for: It’s a bit much to say that the defending champs are scuffling. After all, following a 6-8 stretch in late November and early December, they’ve gone 16-5 in their last 21 games. At the same time, they have not been nearly as dominant as they seem capable of being, which is to be expected the season after winning it all. We saw this same thing in the second half of last season, and it turned out to be much ado about nothing.

That said, the current version of Denver is fallible. They are just 18th in overall defense since January 1 despite not exactly playing a murderer’s row of opponents. There’s also an oddity with their offense: after ranking 4th in the league in assist rate through New Year’s Eve, the Nuggets have been 23rd ever since, just one spot above the Knicks in that same stretch.

In short, this is a winnable game for New York (and unlike some past opponents, they shouldn’t have any issue taking this one seriously).

Making the Case: Jalen Brunson, ASG Starter

Forget your grandfather’s or father’s NBA; the league right now doesn’t resemble the one your older brother watched not long ago.

Aside from LeBron James defying the laws of aging, the National Basketball Association is nothing like what it was even a decade ago.

In the 2013-14 season, there were four players in the NBA - LeBron, KD, Melo and Kevin Love - who entered the All-Star break averaging at least 25 points per game. A fifth, James Harden, topped that number by the end of the year.

Now¹, 19 players are putting up a quarter dollar every night, with the aforementioned King James just falling short at 24.8 a game. That total includes five Eastern Conference guards - Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxey, Damian Lillard and Trae Young- which is more than the entire league in 2014.

For that reason, Jalen Brunson and his 26.6 points per game isn’t a lock to start for the Eastern Conference All Stars on February 18, despite the fact that no guard in franchise history (save for Brunson himself last season) has come within three points of his current scoring average.