Two faults after four minutes, it’s not the ideal start to attack the playoffs, but what happened this night Jalen Brunson in the first set against the Cavaliers. The Knicks point guard joined his bench faster than expected, but nothing that could undermine his morale. “There was no need to dwell on it and I just tried to stay positive” says the Knicks point guard. “I knew my time would come. »
After he quickly picked up his 3rd foul in the 2nd quarter, his time will come after the break as Brunson will reward us with a magnificent duel with Donovan Mitchell. The same as last season when they wore the Dallas and Utah jerseys. First, it was Brunson who scored 12 points in the 3rd quarter, but also who put Obi Toppin into orbit. Under their leadership, the Knicks attack the last quarter with an eight-point lead (78-70), and that’s a lot in such a tough meeting. Then Mitchell gets angry. The former Jazz back plants 10 points in a row, and everything is to be redone for the Knicks. Worse, on a tap from Jarrett Allen, the Cavaliers went ahead (93-92).
Cedi Osman punished
We are in the “money time of money time”, and it is Brunson who connects the dribbles to destabilize Cedi Osman and strike from five meters (97-93). There are 75 seconds left to play. And it’s him again, 30 seconds later, who overtakes the same Osman to finish with his left hand (99-95). Cleveland will not recover.
“The Cavaliers did not give up, they continued to fight… We kept our cool and we remained united” explains Brunson during the post-match interview. “Personally, I remained patient and calm, and I kept my cool. I just tried to be myself, to lower my tension so that nothing from outside could reach me. »
For Josh Hart, factor X of the meeting, the return of Julius Randle relieves the whole team, and removes the pressure from the shoulders of Brunson. “Julius and Brunson just controlled the tempo, put us in the systems, and did all these things that you don’t necessarily see in the stat sheet. It feels good that they’re both back so we can use our full strength. »
