Knicks vs. 76ers: Jalen Brunson’s unprecedented struggles somehow haven’t sunk New York

If you would have told someone, anyone, that the New York Knicks would be up 2-0 on the Philadelphia 76ers with Jalen Brunson shooting 16-for-55, including 2-of-12 from 3, while being totally outplayed by Tyrese Maxey through the first two games, you would’ve sounded like you were off your meds. Yet, here we are. 

It took a bonkers rally over the final 27 seconds, which started with Brunson getting one of the luckiest front-rim bounces you’ll ever see, to pull it off, but in the end, the Knicks turned a five-point deficit into a one-point lead, having sent Madison Square Garden straight into orbit, and Philly home facing a downright cruel 0-2 deficit, with a 104-101 victory for the ages. 

After an ending like this, nobody in New York is going to care about Brunson’s struggles to start this series. But that doesn’t make them any less unlikely. Consider that Brunson had played in 458 career games, including the playoffs, over the course of his six-year career entering this series, and not once had he attempted more than 25 shots in a single game. 

He’s now done it twice, finishing 8-for-26 in Game 1 and 8-for-29 in Game 2. It is not an exaggeration to say this is the most inefficient two-game stretch of Brunson’s entire career, and Monday was most certainly his worst career playoff shooting game at 27%, and yet the Knicks are beating a Sixers team that has gotten 131 combined points from Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey over the first two games. 

Maxey, in particular, was lights out on Monday, finishing with 35 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. He hit two huge jumpers to tie the game and give the Sixers a one-point lead late, and seemingly sealed the victory with a dagger 28-foot 3-pointer with 1:09 to play to give Philadelphia a four-point lead. 

Maxey is an All-Star himself. He can be the best player on any floor on any given night. It’s not surprising that he’s playing like this. Dude’s a flat out stud. But given how much Brunson has meant to the Knicks all season (he has a legit case for first-team All-NBA), and the disproportionate scoring load on his shoulders in the absence of Randle, for the point guard matchup to be this lopsided should have been enough for the Sixers to at least have left New York with a 1-1 split, if not a 2-0 lead. 

To be down 0-2 under these circumstances is devastating. 

The Knicks have made up for Brunson’s bricks by way of a Josh Hart shooting bonanza and a monstrous rebounding night in Game 1, when they pulled down 23 offensive boards for a 26-8 advantage in second-chance points. Hart, who was a 31% 3-point shooter during the regular season, didn’t make more than three 3-pointers in a single game all year, and yet he’s made four in each of the first two games. Crazy stuff. 

“The one thing about this team, no one really cares about who’s doing what, who gets the credit for what or anything,” Brunson said. “We just want to go out there and win.”

It’s true. This Knicks team is together and tough. Brunson is tough. These struggles are not going to last, but in the playoffs, as Embiid and the Sixers have learned all too well over the years, you don’t often have the luxury of weathering your best player’s worst games with victories. Let alone two victories. But New York has done it, and it is now in complete control of a series that could easily be leaning the other way.