{"id":117071,"date":"2025-01-09T19:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T00:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=117071"},"modified":"2025-01-09T19:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T00:00:31","slug":"knicks-win-even-on-brunsons-quiet-scoring-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/09\/knicks-win-even-on-brunsons-quiet-scoring-nights\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Able To Win Even On Brunson’s Quiet Scoring Nights"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Knicks superstar point guard Jalen Brunson<\/a> earned his elite status over the past two seasons in the Big Apple by constantly putting the team on his back. Through his consistent monster scoring performances, Brunson had his squad winning games they had no business of taking. Both of his Knicks playoff runs are memorable, but especially his 2024 explosion, where he averaged 32.4 points and 7.5 assists to bring New York to within one game of the Eastern Conference Finals. Once forced to carry undermanned rosters to new heights, the Villanova product finally has a balanced group. Even in Brunson’s quiet scoring outings, the Knicks are fully capable of winning.<\/p>\n

Knicks Able To Win Even On Brunson’s Quiet Scoring Nights<\/h2>\n

The Knicks have done a complete 180 in their ability to win without Brunson putting up incredible numbers. He still wears a heavy burden as the lead ball-handler, especially when Deuce McBride<\/a> is out. However, NY now has the personnel to carry the scoring load when their leader is having an off-night. With Mikal Bridges<\/a>, OG Anunoby<\/a>, Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a>, and Josh Hart<\/a>‘s career year, New York has more than enough firepower to eke out victories.<\/p>\n

When Brunson scores 20 or fewer points this season, his team boasts a stunning 10-1 record.
\nEven when Julius Randle<\/a> was healthy the last two seasons, New York simply relied too much on Brunson to be a superhero every night. Everything has changed at the Mecca, and this is a main reason why.<\/p>\n

Brunson Is A Much-Improved Playmaker\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

All the way back to his college days, Brunson was known for being a team-first player. His lack of size and athleticism forced him to be the smartest, most unselfish guy on the court at all times. His team-first mentality borne from being coached by his NBA veteran father, Rick Brunson<\/a>, as well as Villanova coach Jay Wright. It led him to being named captain of a premier NBA franchise.<\/p>\n

With that, Brunson was always a good passer who also maintained a scoring attitude. His smooth footwork, crafty buckets, and knockdown jumper continued to improve to the point he’s at now, where he can trade buckets with anyone in the world. However, carrying a team by scoring 30+ every night isn’t how he’ll bring a championship to New York. He now has the supporting cast to run a true egalitarian five-out offense where every player gets consistent touches.<\/p>\n

Brunson’s shift in his attack to toggle between aggressive scoring when needed and sharing the ball to get his guys going has been a huge part of New York’s top three offense. He is averaging a career high<\/a> 7.6 dimes a night, exceeding his 6.7 and 6.2 marks of 2023-24 and 2022-23. He has done this while maintaining his turnover rate in his typical low area at 2.3, running the show nearly flawlessly in his third season at the helm. His 3.27 assist to turnover ratio ranks sixth among starting point guards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beyond the statistics, it is clear the Knicks captain has made huge strides in his playmaking repertoire. His passing reads are better across the board whether it\u2019s pick-and-roll pocket passes, beating double teams, throwing skip passes, and drive-and-kicks.<\/p>\n

Knicks’ Offensive System Is Thriving With Brunson At The Controls\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As I’ve mentioned before, Tom Thibodeau ran an offense centered around Brunson and Randle. It created off-ball advantages for their teammates through an isolation scoring attack. Randle’s erratic performances often sent the squad on roller-coaster rides. Brunson, while effective, had a better team-based playstyle to unlock. Furthermore, New York’s offense would often get bogged down in the playoffs due to its predictable nature in a series.<\/p>\n

So, what changed? Bringing in Bridges, Anunoby, and Towns to fill the starting five allowed the Knicks to run a true five-out system. Their new offense is predicated on quick ball movement, cutting, and screening on and off the ball to create openings for any one of the five guys on the floor. Each starter has consistently gotten opportunities to initiate offense for New York, which allows more freedom and better output<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, the team still attacks with Brunson as its primary initiator in most cases. They have thrived despite his lower-volume scoring because he finally peaked as a playmaker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York Knicks superstar point guard Jalen Brunson earned his elite status over the past two seasons in the Big Apple by constantly putting the team on his back. Through his consistent monster scoring performances, Brunson had his squad winning games they had no business of taking. Both of his Knicks playoff runs are memorable, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5412,"featured_media":117106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,12],"tags":[1417,213,215],"class_list":["post-117071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-knicks","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-tom-thibodeau"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117071"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117107,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117071\/revisions\/117107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}