What’s scary is that there is another level the Knicks can reach.
Jalen Brunson in particular.
He has been far from his best across the first two games of the Finals — he has shot just 19-for-56 from the field (33.9 percent) and 4-for-17 from 3-point range (23.5 percent).
He’s committed a combined eight turnovers.
In Friday’s 105-104 Game 2 win over the Spurs at Frost Bank Center, he missed three straight shots as the Spurs went on a 14-0 run to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.
The last one was a wide-open 3-pointer that he was unable to hit.
He did, though, make a jumper to tie the game and hit a free throw — after stealing Victor Wembanyama’s pass — to give the Knicks their final lead.
“We’re just trying to make it difficult on him,” De’Aaron Fox said. “I think we’ve done a good job both games. He’s made big shots at the end of games. He’s a hell of a player.”
“Even when you make it difficult on good players, they’re talented so they’re going to end up making shots. He’s done that, especially at the end of the games.”
The Spurs clearly made it a point to not let Brunson beat them Friday.
They blitzed him every time someone set a screen for him.
They collapsed in the paint every time he got into the lane.
And they were extremely physical — picking him up full court, bumping him off the ball and trying to get under his skin.
Much of it was allowed by the referees.
At one point in the fourth quarter, De’Aaron Fox basically shoved him, then tried to exchange a few words with Brunson, who simply stared him down.
Brunson’s father, assistant coach Rick, shouted a few words toward Fox.
Brunson expects even more of that approach in Game 3 on Monday.
“Knowing them, there’s going to be another level,” Brunson said. “We have to be prepared and be ready to match it and play for 48 minutes. No matter what goes on in the game, we have to have each other’s back, what’s going on, who is on a run, what’s not, who is up, who is down. Making sure we are playing together for 48 minutes is really important.”
And, as Fox said, Brunson has still found a way to execute late in both Games 1 and 2 despite his struggles up to that point.
He became the first player since at least 1971 to score the final go-ahead points in the last two minutes of back-to-back Finals games, according to ESPN.
“I see Captain Clutch doing what he’s always been doing since I got here,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “He’s a huge part when it comes down to the actual — the game, to winning the game, No. 11 can’t be messed with.”
If this is what the Knicks look like without Brunson at his best, just imagine what they’ll be when he finally breaks out.
