Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has become used to Jalen Brunson‘s excellence.
Spoelstra competed against the New York Knicks player and tried every tactic in his defensive playbook to stop him last spring. But still, Brunson almost single-handedly defeated his respected Heat team in the second round of the playoffs last season, averaging 31.0 points on 50.4% shooting and 6.3 assists. Then in the summer, he coached the Knicks star at Team USA in the FIBA World Cup in Manila, Philippines.
So when he offered high praise for Brunson before the Heat defeated the Knicks 109-99 on Tuesday, April 2, in Miami, it was not just empty talk.
“He’s having an MVP-type season,” Spoelstra told reporters, according to New York Post. “He’s at that level right now where you’re not taking things away from him.”
Spoelstra, selected by the general managers as the top coach in the NBA concerning motivating players, in-game adjustments and the best defensive strategies, described how difficult it was to limit Brunson to 20 points on 5 of 18 shooting night.
“It is difficult because you contain him and then now they have the three-point shooters,” Spoelstra told reporters after the game. “Probably everybody’s saying, ‘How did he get open? That’s how he got open.’
Great players force you to bring a second defender and sometimes a third defender and then you have to scramble and make things up from there. But he’s that good right now. His footwork and his cleverness, his aggressiveness playing against your aggressiveness, the entire package just makes it extremely challenging. You just have to be absolutely rock solid and disciplined and sometimes he’s going to make shots even when you do that.”
Jalen Brunson Named NBA Player of the Month
Brunson arrived at Tuesday’s game against Miami as the newly crowned NBA Player of the Month in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks All-Star point guard averaged 28.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game while leading the Knicks to a 9-5 record despite the absence of their other All-Star, Julius Randle (dislocated shoulder), and OG Anunoby playing only in three games in a brief return before re-aggravating his elbow injury.
He scored a career-high 61 points in a 130-126 overtime loss to San Antonio on March 29. It was the second most points scored by a Knicks player in a single game in the franchise history, just one point shy of Carmelo Anthony’s 62 points in 2014.
Brunson is averaging a career-high 27.8 points and 6.6 assists this season.
Jalen Brunson Takes Responsibility in Knicks Loss
Despite Spoelstra giving Brunson his accolades, the Knicks star was devastated after the defeat. Brunson had every right to use his cold as an excuse as it affected his overall effectiveness. But he didn’t. Instead, he took the blame for their third straight loss.
“Everyone else did their job except for me,” Brunson told reporters. ““[The cold] doesn’t matter.”
He was hard on himself after committing an uncharacteristic five turnovers.
[Expletive] carelessness,” Brunson said.
Despite Brunson hitting 9 of 10 free throws, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau felt he believed he should have received more.
“It indicates 10 free throws, but he’s being fouled. I hate to say it, it’s that straightforward,” Thibodeau informed reporters before repeating himself.
“He’s being fouled,” Thibodeau said six times.