The New York Knicks are on life support going into Game 5, with the Indiana Pacers up 3-1 in their conference finals. So, the team has had to do some soul searching ahead of their matchup on Thursday, May 29, at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks will have their loyal hometown crowd cheering them on, so that should help with momentum. But, the Pacers are out to win this game and close out this series no matter where the game goes down, so the Knicks have to clean up some mistakes they’ve been making the past few games.
Knicks star Jalen Brunson is addressing the elephant in the room for the Knicks and saying what the team needs to do to stay alive.
New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Talks Pacers
The Knicks aren’t known for a team that has excessive turnovers, but this series has been different. During the team’s 130-121 loss to the Pacers on Tuesday, May 27, the Knicks turned the ball over 17 times, which gave Indiana 20 points. Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges accounted for 11 of those 17 turnovers. The Knicks also recorded only 17 assists as a team.
After the loss, Brunson was asked about those 17 turnovers. Being the strong leader that he is, Brunson owned up to it.
“I mean, a lot of them are stuff that we can control,” he said speaking to the press. “As a team, we just need to tighten the screws when it comes to that and just be aggressive. If they were aggressive turnovers, that would be different. But passive turnovers, not us.”
The two words that really stand out there are “not us.”
Brunson also spoke about how the Pacers’ energy and enthusiasm somehow toppled over the Knicks. That’s a mistake he’s hoping he and New York don’t make again.
“They came with energy and physicality and set the tone for the game, and we responded,” he said. “Obviously, the second quarter was great besides the last minute and a half, and then just playing catch-up from that point on.”
Former 76ers Player Digs at Brunson
Former Philadelphia 76ers player Patrick Beverley talked about the Knicks and Pacers series on the May 28 edition of “The Pat Bev Pod” show and didn’t have the most glowing things to say about the Knicks.
“When have you seen anyone his size lead a team to an NBA Championship?” Beverley said regarding Brunson.
The dig isn’t new for Brunson, 6’2″, who has been criticized for his size throughout his career. But, Brunson has really proved the naysayers wrong with his fantastic performances.
“I’m not saying you take the ball out of his hands,” Beverley said, continuing with his thoughts on Brunson. “I’m saying you keep the ball in his hands, but when it’s time to make adjustments and the team is keying in on him, and they’re putting a 6’7″ guy on him, and they’re trapping his pick and rolls and he has to put a guy on his back and shoot step-back jump shots, that might be good for him but is that good for the team?”
He added, “He gets it out, but he gets it back too. We’ve seen that in the past. That’s good in the second round of the playoffs, that’s good for the finals, but can that type of play win you a championship? Historically, we’ve seen that it has not.”
