Witnessing Greatness

Behind yet another special performance from Jalen Brunson, the Knicks continue charging to the postseason.

Good morning! The final week of the regular season started off on a positive note last night. We’ll recap and analyze the game from top to bottom, while of course paying special attention to a certain superstar who continues to etch his name in New York’s record books…

Game 79: Knicks 128, Bulls 117

In a New York minute…

Breaking a recent trend, the Knicks came out firing behind a red hot Jalen Brunson and scored 36 in the first quarter, but the Bulls never got too far behind thanks to some solid shot-making of their own. New York briefly took control in the third, going up by as many as 17, but a 7-0 Chicago run kept things close, and the lead stayed in single digits for most of the second half. In the end though, the Knicks’ defense came through when it needed to, and there was just too much of New York’s point guard for the home team to handle.

Join the club, Chicago.

Three Things

1. Ascending the ranks. Of all the painful things that have defined being a Knicks fan for much of my lifetime, the one that tops the list is the unmistakable feeling of being second best, even when we’re pretty darn good.

Ewing was great…but he was never Jordan.

Marbury gave them life…but Jason Kidd could turn around a franchise.

Melo was special…but not as special as LeBron.

There are other examples, but those are the ones that stick out the most.

Just once, I wanted to root for a player who I knew wouldn’t have to look up to anyone, no matter how good the opposition was.

So it figures that the savior arrived in the form of the shortest player on the court, at least most of the time.

Last night Jalen Brunson scored 45 points on 24 shots.

He also dished eight assists that led to 18 additional Knick points for a total of 63, or one short of half their total.

The only other Knick who ever scored that much on that number of shots with that many assists was Brunson himself, earlier this season in Phoenix, and the aforementioned Marbury, who did it in a loss to the Lakers in 2005 when he also committed six turnovers. Brunson, in 77 minutes between the two games, had three turnovers combined.

He now sits third in franchise annals for the most 30-point games in a season and the most 40-point games in a season, looking up only at the likes of Ewing, King and Guerin. He also matched Ewing’s career Knicks total of 45-point games with six. Patrick played 1039 games for the franchise over 15 years. Brunson has played 141 games over two.

Different eras, yes, but still…we are entering unchartered territory here.

There is no corner of the multiverse where this should be possible, whether we’re talking about his pedigree as a second round pick or the fact that the team that drafted him let him walk without making an all-out effort to retain his services.

Nothing about this makes any sense. Then again, why should it?

Jalen Brunson defies logic.

And that makes what we’re witnessing all the more special.