Jay Wright gets a lot of credit for developing the ‘Nova Knicks as we know them, winning a pair of national titles with Villanova teams that had Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart.
Even thought that happened in suburban Philadelphia, and Wright himself grew up in a different suburb of Philly, he jumped on the Knicks’ bandwagon when they compiled a slew of his former players – and as he told Joe Benigno in a special Sunday visit, he followed the Knicks, too, when he was cutting his teeth as a head coach at Hofstra in the late-1990s, during the Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy eras.
And so, he’s not a New Yorker by trade, but he can feel and understand the energy in the city right now.
“I’m a Philly guy, but I jumped on the bandwagon when those guys got there, and it’s really cool to see for New York fans who have been really loyal to the team,” Wright told Benigno. “I don’t know anywhere else in the country where they’ve sold out every game forever. Even when they were struggling, this fan base has stuck with this team. It’s really cool, and if you can say any fan base deserves this, the Knicks fans do.”
Wright was at Game 4 at MSG where the Knicks came back from down 29 to complete the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, although he joked even he would’ve left early if not for the chance to see his former players – but it was their comebacks in Games 1, 2, and 5 in San Antonio that really showed Wright what this team was made of.
“Their ability to come back on the road the way they did in both those games was incredible. It’s one thing to do it at home, although 29 down, no one had seen that – but to do it on the road against a team that had confidence early in the series and desperation late?” Wright said. “The mental toughness of that team top to bottom, and Mike Brown’s tough decisions – it shows you the mental toughness of that organization.”
Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges were part of both of Villanova’s championship teams, with Josh Hart heading to the NBA after the first, and Wright always knew Brunson, the son of an NBA player, would eclipse his dad and be an NBA Champion someday.
But THIS Brunson, the one who dropped a Knicks Finals record 45 in Game 5, and tied Michael Jordan for the highest scoring output in an NBA Title clincher on the road? He’d ‘be lying’ if he told you the point guard who led ‘Nova to titles in 2016 and 2018 would be this good.
“I always thought he’d be an NBA champion because he has the leadership of a winner, but I always thought he’d be the point guard as a No. 2 guy, like he was with Luka Doncic in Dallas,” Wright said. “When he made the decision to come to the Knicks, he told me he wanted to lead a team; I was like, you do lead a team as the point guard, and he’s proven it’s not about saying it, it’d about doing it – and he’s done that Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant-type of willing his team to win, not just by attitude, but by pure execution and mental toughness. To mentally take it on his shoulders, make the right play and the big shot, take on the big moment and respond…I can’t say that I saw that, I’d be lying.”
