Among the teams qualified for the quarter-finals of the very first “In-Season Tournament”, the Knicks will have a lot to do to reach the final since they will have to contend with the Bucks, in Milwaukee, before potentially crossing swords against the Pacers and their supersonic attack, which made the Celtics crack last night.
Despite everything, there is much hope for the club new Yorkcurrently in a very good dynamic after winning 7 of its last 9 matches, thanks to the volume of play of Jalen Brunson and especially Julius Randlejust voted player of the week in the Eastern Conference, and also has an iron defense, the 3rd in the league.
So obviously, confidence reigns at the moment among the Knicks, who are not putting pressure on themselves and appreciate this outsider status, since they qualified as a “wild card”.
“ It's an accomplishment that we could add to our CV, as a team. If you have a chance to win something, you try to win it “, sums up Jalen Brunson. “ We try to win all our matches anyway, every time. It will simply be one more match on our schedule, even if there is something special at stake. We will be ready. »
Jalen Brunson joins Damian Lillard
A financial issue in this case, since each player on the team that wins this first NBA Cup will be rewarded with a bonus of an additional $500,000 on their salary.
And on this point, Jalen Brunson, like his future opponent, thinks above all of the players on his team whose salaries are the lowest. A few weeks ago, Damian Lillard explained that he especially hoped to win this tournament to allow his most “precarious” teammates to receive this money. It is clear that with his $104 million contract signed in 2022, the New York leader will not be pitied, even if the Knicks do not win this tournament. Just like Julius Randle (25.6 million this season) or RJ Barrett (23.8 million)…
“ If we, the players who play a lot and earn a lot of money, don't take this match seriously, it would be a lack of respect for our teammates », assures the former Villanova. “ We can't just go out there and say, 'We're making so much money anyway, period.' No, we go out on the field and we play for our teammates, the guys who work hard every day, who maybe don't get the playing time they would like, but still have the right work ethic, the right state of mind. Everyone is important, it's a collective, so you have to take everything seriously. »
A collective which, to hope to win this nice bonus, will nevertheless have to count above all on a high level of play from Jalen Brunson, who will unsurprisingly be monitored very closely by the Bucks.
“ We must control the ball and its carrier, so Jalen Brunson “, indeed concludes Damian Lillard. “ He is playing with enormous confidence at the moment, he is their engine. So we will have to be vigilant, we cannot let everyone play their best game. That was the case the last time we played them. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Jalen Brunson | 19 | 35.6 | 46.7 | 47.4 | 83.0 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 3.7 | 5.5 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 24.9 |
| Julius Randle | 19 | 35.0 | 41.2 | 27.9 | 70.2 | 2.1 | 8.1 | 10.2 | 5.5 | 3.2 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 20.4 |
| Rj Barrett | 14 | 29.3 | 42.1 | 38.9 | 83.6 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 18.6 |
| Immanuel Quickley | 19 | 24.4 | 43.7 | 36.8 | 88.3 | 0.2 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 15.4 |
| Donte Divincenzo | 19 | 20.4 | 42.6 | 43.4 | 64.7 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 9.2 |
| Josh Hart | 19 | 28.7 | 46.6 | 34.5 | 73.3 | 1.1 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 8.2 |
| Mitchell Robinson | 19 | 29.9 | 57.8 | 0.0 | 38.9 | 5.6 | 5.2 | 10.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 6.2 |
| Quentin Grimes | 17 | 23.1 | 36.3 | 34.9 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 6.2 |
| Isaiah Hartenstein | 19 | 17.0 | 56.2 | 33.3 | 66.7 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 5.4 |
| Evan Fournier | 1 | 15.6 | 16.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Miles McBride | 12 | 4.5 | 47.1 | 30.8 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Dylan Windler | 3 | 2.5 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| Daquan Jeffries | 7 | 2.7 | 37.5 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 |
| Jericho Sims | 8 | 2.8 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 33.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Ryan Arcidiacono | 5 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
