Jalen Brunson Has Basically Turned Into Michael Jordan, Carried The Knicks To A Perfect Game 1 Win
What a beautiful, beautiful game. If it gets ugly, that's exactly what the Knicks want. It doesn't matter what a lead is, you simply can't kill the Knicks. Not when we have Jalen Brunson and you don't. Let's do some stats just to prove what I'm saying:
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That's what we call a superstar. That's what we call a closer. So many dorks talking about how he took 26 shots tonight. Fine by me! He shot over 50% and this might sound crazy, but you want your superstar player to take shots when he's scoring. Just a pretty good strategy more often than not.
Now, I know people want to talk about the refs. Let's talk about it. I can't believe those bum ass refs made the Knicks burn a timeout with 25 seconds to go when they called the ball out of bounds on Brunson. Guy from the other side of the floor making the call? Atrocious. Can't happen. As for this play?
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Great call. Just like the one they called on Donte in the 2nd half. Can't do it. Basically ran a pulling left tackle play and there's no room in basketball for it. Easy call if you ask me. Also don't blow a lead if you're the Pacers. That seems simple too. You wanna yell if you're a Pacers fan or Joel Embiid sitting on your couch, talk about blowing the lead in the 4th. You only have yourselves to blame. Credit to Rick Carlisle for understanding that at least.
The kickball? Hey, if you want to argue that you can't challenge that go ahead. This is where people either want to review everything or not. 50/50 call though. Can't 100% tell he didn't kick the ball at some point, maybe.
This was just a vintage Knicks game. Jalen Brunson carries us, Josh Hart will get every single rebound when he has to and then Donte came alive when we needed him.
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You think I'm worried about the lack of bench production? Okay, maybe that one. Would like Deuce McBride to make shots again. But Mitch was just fine in his role. Either way, this is a Knicks win and last time I checked that's all that matters. Doesn't matter how you get to 4, as long as you get to 4.
It feels good to see the Knicks in the home white jerseys beating the Pacers. It feels good to hate the everliving shit out of the Pacers again and Josh Hart is correct that TJ McConnell is an annoying little shit.
Cue the music and get ready for game 2. Feels good to have the superstar on our team.