Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Perfectly Trolled Kenny Smith During Postgame Interview

May 3, 2024 Jimm Sallivan

Jalen Brunson had Villanova on his mind.

Brunson poured in 14 of his game-high 41 points in the fourth quarter to help the New York Knicks advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 118-115 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, doing so in a familiar setting at the Wells Fargo Center, where he played some of the biggest games of his college career for the Wildcats.

At one point, Brunson, after hitting a clutch shot in the fourth quarter, appeared to look skyward at Villanova’s 2016 championship banner hanging in the rafters.

Then, during a postgame interview with TNT’s Inside the NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, Brunson made sure that Smith, an alum of the University of North Carolina, didn’t forget the 2016 national championship game, where the Wildcats defeated the Tar Heels.

Jalen: “Is this Kenny?”

Kenny: “Yes it is!”

Jalen: “2016 banner Kenny!” 😂

Brunson had to remind Kenny of Villanova’s 2016 Championship after the W in Philly 🤣 pic.twitter.com/XAkpe73k0g

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 3, 2024

Barkley began the interview by asking Brunson if he felt that Philadelphia was a special place for him to play. Brunson replied that he believes it “definitely” is, pointing out the program’s three championship banners. Then, it was Smith’s turn to ask a question.

Brunson, hearing Smith’s voice, asked, “Is this Kenny?”

“Yes it is!” Smith affirmed.

“2016 banner, Kenny,” Brunson said, as Smith and his TNT peers burst into laughter.

Well played by Brunson, who couldn’t resist a little trolling at Smith’s expense, reminding him of his Wildcats’ 77-74 win over Smith’s Tar Heels back in April 2016.

Brunson and the Knicks will next take on the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, which begins May 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

6 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Jalen Brunson Gets NYC Nike Billboard With Spot-on Message

The New York Knicks are preparing for an Eastern Conference semifinals tilt against the Indiana Pacers, with the series getting underway on Monday. Ahead of Game 1, a new Nike billboard featuring star guard Jalen Brunson was plastered in the middle of New York City.

The billboard, which pictured Brunson from behind with one arm in the air, had a short but sweet message written above the Nike logo.

"Don't sleep."

It's a fitting message for the once underrated guard who has found an NBA home in "The City That Never Sleeps."

Another angle of the new Jalen Brunson / Nike billboard on 34th and 7th🔥
(via knicks_everything/IG) pic.twitter.com/5QPLzoAErh
— The Strickland (@TheStrickland) May 6, 2024

Despite an excellent college career, in which he won a national championship at Villanova, Brunson fell into the second round during the 2018 NBA draft. After four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, the team who drafted him, Brunson was offered a contract vastly below market value, which he declined before signing with the Knicks.

Being slept on is nothing new to Brunson, who, coming off his first-ever All-Star campaign, just became the first player since Michael Jordan in 1993 to score 37 or more points in four consecutive playoff games.

With Games 1 and 2 set to be played at Madison Square Garden, Nike capitalized on a prime opportunity to recognize Brunson's postseason dominance with the remarkable billboard right in the heart of the city.

3 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Jalen Brunson Enters Rarified Air With 41-Point Outburst As Knicks Advance

New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson had an all-time series during the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers, culminating with a dominant 41-point performance to close out the Sixers in Game 6 on Thursday night.

During the final four games of the series, Brunson truly came into his own, scoring a total of 167 points during that span. He scored no fewer than 39 points in any of those four games, making him the first player since Michael Jordan in 1993 to score 37 or more points in four consecutive playoff games, according to Justin Russo of Russo Writes.

Additionally, Brunson becomes the first player since Oscar Robertson to score 35 points and record 10 assists in three separate games in a single playoff series, another nod to the historic run the 27-year-old went on to help New York reach the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Brunson, who had 39 points in Game 3, is the first Knicks player since Bernard King to record 40+ points in three straight playoff games. King achieved the feat in four consecutive games back in 1984.

Brunson rarely saw the bench during his torrid four-game stretch, too, logging at least 44 minutes in every game during that span, as Tom Thibodeau leaned heavily upon his star guard to close out the series for the Knicks

He'll look to keep his dominating offensive play going when New York takes on the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals.

3 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

SI:AM | Knicks-Sixers Was Everything a Playoff Series Should Be

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I got so worked up during the fourth quarter of Knicks-Sixers that I had to turn up my air conditioning.

In today’s SI:AM:
🗽 The Knicks win a classic
🏈 Too many NFL games?
🐦 The Orioles’ fatal flaw

What a series

One point. That’s all there was to separate the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers after a thrilling six-game series that ended with New York’s series-clinching victory Thursday night. The Knicks scored 650 points in the series. The Sixers scored 649.

This series had everything. It had spectacular individual performances, like Joel Embiid’s 50-point game, Tyrese Maxey’s 46 and Jalen Brunson’s four straight games with at least 39 points. (The last player to score 39 in four straight playoff games? Michael Jordan.) It had electrifying finishes, like Maxey’s clutch shot-making in Game 5. It had local animosity as the two nearby rivals met in the postseason for the first time in 35 years and Knicks fans invaded Philadelphia.

Game 6 might have been the best of the series. When the Knicks jumped out to a 33–11 lead in the first quarter, they seemed poised to cruise to victory. But then the Sixers came storming back and, after 17 second-quarter points by Buddy Hield, took a 54–51 lead into halftime. Hield was the most unlikely of heroes. He hadn’t played in either of the previous two games after scoring just two points in limited action in the first three games of the series. He knocked down five of his seven three-point attempts in the quarter and out-scored the entire Knicks team by himself.

Hield’s incendiary quarter made it a new game, and by the middle of the third quarter the Sixers managed to stretch their lead to 10. But the Knicks didn’t blink and with a 22–12 run over the final six minutes of the third were able to tie the game at 83. That led to a back-and-forth fourth quarter that featured four ties and three lead changes.

To borrow a word from Knicks announcer Walt Frazier, Brunson was the catalyst in the fourth. He had 14 points in the quarter, twice as many as any other Knicks player, and scored or assisted on eight of the team’s 13 made field goals. It was just the latest in a series of superstar performances from Brunson, who has cemented himself this season among the game’s elite players. He finished the game with 41 points on 13-of-27 shooting and also added 12 assists.

But the beauty of this Knicks team is that, while Brunson undeniably leads the way, they have a solid backbone of role players who are equally crucial to their success. In Game 6 it was Brunson’s former Villanova teammates Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. Hart had 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, and DiVincenzo had 23 points, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. DiVincenzo played all 48 minutes of the game and was tasked with being the primary defender on Maxey. After Maxey torched the Knicks for 46 points in Game 5, he managed just 17 on 6-of-18 shooting Thursday.

The Sixers posed a more difficult challenge for the Knicks than a 7-seed usually does for a 2-seed. That’s because Philadelphia was forced to play without Embiid for much of the season and thus its record did not accurately reflect the quality of the team when at full strength, which it was in the postseason after Embiid (although hobbled at times by his knee injury) was able to return. Either of these two teams could have reasonably expected to reach at least the conference finals, so it’s a shame that one of them had to be sent packing so early. No matter which team won the series, it would have been crushing for the loser to exit in the first round. But the quality of both teams made for one of the best first-round series in recent memory.

The best of Sports Illustrated

The top five…

… plays from the fourth quarter of Knicks-Sixers:
5. Buddy Hield’s off-ball movement to get open for a three early in the quarter.
4. Jalen Brunson’s assist to a wide-open Mitchell Robinson.
3. Josh Hart’s go-ahead three with 24 seconds left.
2. Brunson’s body control on a jumper with three defenders surrounding him.
1. OG Anunoby’s dunk in Joel Embiid’s face.

US Sports News

Knicks’ Jalen Brunson Perfectly Trolled Kenny Smith During Postgame Interview

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