Jalen Brunson shook off the hostile chants from the raucous Detroit crowd and the growing angst among his team’s own fanbase with a shot for the ages to send the Knicks to the conference semifinals.
With the final seconds ticking down and New York in danger of letting another game slip away, the Knicks captain put on his cape once again, crossing up Ausar Thompson at the top of the key before nailing the series-winning 3-pointer with four seconds left to send New York to the second round for the third year in a row.
Brunson, the recently crowned Clutch Player of the Year, now has his signature shot, one that will go down as one of the greatest in recent Knicks history, up there with Allan Houston’s running floater to down the Heat in 1999, and Larry Johnson’s 4-point play two series later.
For Brunson, his heroic triple put him in rare company, a level that only the arguable greatest of all time has reached.
Brunson’s game winner gave him 40 points on the night, the second straight year that he put up 40 to close out the first round. Per OptaSTATS, Brunson is just the second player ever to put up games of 40+ points and 5+ assists in a road closeout win. The other? Michael Jordan.
Brunson finished with 40 points and seven assists in Thursday night’s win, almost exactly a year after he went to Philly and dropped 41 on the Sixers, eliminating them in game six after Philadelphia had stunned New York in game five at Madison Square Garden, much like this series against an upstart Detroit squad.
But Brunson flexed his clutch gene when the Knicks were facing uncomfortable questions about their makeup, and now, they will move on to the conference semifinals, something they have done every year since Brunson arrived.