{"id":117652,"date":"2025-01-13T09:55:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T14:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=117652"},"modified":"2025-01-13T09:55:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T14:55:21","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-knicks-rival-jalen-brunson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/13\/giannis-antetokounmpo-knicks-rival-jalen-brunson\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo Hails Knicks Rival as ‘One of the Best’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks and\u00a0<\/span>Milwaukee Bucks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are two teams battling it out in the Eastern Conference. Their most recent showdown occurred this weekend in Madison Square Garden. The Knicks took the game in blowout fashion, 140-106. Regardless, it was an eventful game, including a 44-point performance by the Knicks’\u00a0<\/span>Jalen Brunson <\/span><\/a>whom\u00a0<\/span>Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0believes to be one the very best point guards in the league.<\/span><\/p>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo Hails Knicks Rival as ‘One of the Best’<\/h2>\n

Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Receives Praise from\u00a0Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/h3>\n

The incredible thing about Brunson’s 44 points was that they came in just 29 minutes of playing time. Brunson left the game for a short time with a shoulder issue but was later serenaded by the legions of Madison Square Garden with MVP chants when we reentered. Brunson added five rebounds and six assists in the 34-point romping of the Bucks.<\/p>\n

Brunson’s night was electrifying\u2014so electrifying that his Milwaukee counterpart had to speak up post-game.\u00a0<\/span>Giannis spoke with reporters<\/span><\/a>\u00a0after his team suffered the terrible loss. His praise for Brunson was all about how the Knicks point guard can wreck an opponent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best players in the league. One of the best point guards in the league. Obviously, when you face that matchup, you\u2019re gonna be very excited and have happy feet. You\u2019re going to do your best, and he takes advantage of that. He takes his time. Whenever you show your hand, he\u2019s gonna take advantage. He\u2019s extremely smart, so you just gotta do a better job on him\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately for Giannis, Brunson was everything he said and more despite playing less than 30 minutes. Brunson shot 16-26 to add to everything, so he was on target from the tip-off and never wavered. While Brunson will not reach MVP consideration this season, he was the Knicks MVP last night. On this note, the New York fans can’t be argued with.<\/p>\n

Can Jalen Lead NY Past the C’s or Cavs?<\/h3>\n

Don’t look now, but the Knicks are only two wins behind the Boston Celtics and are nipping at Boston’s heel.\u00a0<\/span>Karl-Anthony Towns<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has proved to be a game-changer for the Knicks, and the trade that was seen as high risk is turning out to be high reward. One could argue that Towns has been the Knicks’ best player this season. Brunson, however, is the head of the snake. How far the Knicks run this year will come down to his play and leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s still a shock that the\u00a0<\/span>Cleveland Cavaliers<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are where they are at 33-5. They appear to be virtually unbeatable. In a seven-game series, though, things are entirely different. Everyone knows, judging by last season’s playoffs, the Knicks are anything but an easy playoff opponent for two, three, four, or five games in a row. The Knicks can wear you down with their solid defense and energy. With KAT, does Brunson have enough to topple the Cavs? What about the Celtics? Boston might not be running away with anything as many predicted. Still, despite the superior records held by the Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Celtics might still be the best team in the league overall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether Brunson can lead his squad past two of the league’s top teams in his own conference will flesh out in due time. One thing is sure: the\u00a0Knicks are not to be trifled with now or when the postseason comes around. MVP-esque Brunson will have much to do with that, there is no doubt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks and\u00a0Milwaukee Bucks\u00a0are two teams battling it out in the Eastern Conference. Their most recent showdown occurred this weekend in Madison Square Garden. The Knicks took the game in blowout fashion, 140-106. Regardless, it was an eventful game, including a 44-point performance by the Knicks’\u00a0Jalen Brunson whom\u00a0Giannis Antetokounmpo\u00a0believes to be one the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":117653,"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":[62,1608,15,12],"tags":[306,1417,213],"class_list":["post-117652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-bucks","category-knicks","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-karl-anthony-towns"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117652","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\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117652"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117662,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117652\/revisions\/117662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}