Necessary Brilliance

In a game that was closer than it had any right to be, New York's MVP candidate (yeah, I said it) came to the rescue.

Good morning! Ready for a break this weekend? Well guess what…so are the Knicks!

One note: I promised earlier in the week that I’d do a Western Conference trade rundown today, all the while forgetting that New York played a back to back on Wednesday and Thursday. As such, you can expect that West trade piece to come your way on Tuesday of next week.

Game 42: Knicks 113, Wizards 109

Siri, what does 200 collective minutes played look like?

In a New York minute…

This was anything but a pretty ball game for the first three quarters, but it was highly competitive from the opening tip. One team held a double digit lead for all of eight seconds out of the 48 minutes, when New York went up 20-10 midway through the first. From there, a combination of turnovers, missed threes and some respectable defense kept the Wizards in striking distance throughout. The Knicks made several second-half pushes, but Washington always pushed back, even taking a few one-point leads late in the third. It all led up to the fourth quarter, when Jalen Brunson brought his team home with a relentless onslaught of offensive brilliance. The Wizards never went away, including in a far-dicier-than-it-should-have-been final minute, but the home team had just enough in the tank to get the job done.

Three Things

1. MVP (candidate). Yesterday, I rattled off a handful of players that one could argue are more valuable to their team than Jalen Brunson. The names I listed are, in no uncertain terms, the best players in the league. Players with either no flaws, or flaws that are so wholly enveloped by their strengths that they might as well cease to exist.

There are other players I didn’t name who meet the same qualifications. Players capable of changing a game at the drop of a hat. Players who are truly unguardable, regardless of the opponent. Players who win MVP’s.

Is the total number of names on that list in the double digits? Maybe, maybe not.

But what I can tell you for certain is that Jalen Brunson’s name isn’t on it, not according to the powers that be at least. As Becky Hammon memorably reminded us earlier this season, JB is six-foot-nothin’. It’s a quantifiable, measurable number, and because it’s such a defined quantity, Brunson himself will always be defined by it. That’s just the reality.

Except throughout the history of this sport, from Cousy to Archibald, from Isiah to AI, from Nash to Steph, there have always been guys that get out of bed with the sole intent of blowing accepted narratives to smithereens. A select few magicians who dare to challenge conventional wisdom. Who have such an unwavering belief in themselves that no amount of doubt can stop them.

Last night, Jalen Brunson reminded anyone who needed reminding that he’s elbowing his way up that exclusive list, one improbable mid-ranger at a time.

The Knicks shouldn’t have needed this type of performance from their star, at home against the dreadful Wizards, on the second night of a back to back. They have partially themselves to blame for that, and partially the current structure of this roster. It is a roster that is close to completion, but the missing pieces might as well be two of the three blocks on the bottom level of a Jenga tower. A stiff breeze (i.e., this Washington team) can be enough to topple it.

That is an issue, a major issue, but it is an issue they can survive, barely, because of one man.

And survive they did last night, because Jalen Brunson simply would not let them lose.

It’s time to put some respect on his name.