CHICAGO — When the subject of All-Stars or awards is raised, Tom Thibodeau always has maintained that if the team is successful, those things will follow. And in the case of Jalen Brunson, as the Knicks have followed him on the road to a remarkable season — contending to the final week for the second seed in the East despite injuries that have devastated the roster — success and awards may come hand-in-hand.
As the Knicks take the floor at the United Center on Tuesday, the season is down to four games and Knicks’ fate is in their own hands — Brunson’s hands, really — with the assurance that they could finish no lower than third if they win out, and the chance to clinch a top six spot Tuesday.
Brunson was named an All-Star for the first time two months ago, silencing critics one by one throughout the season. He almost certainly will earn his first All-NBA honor when this season is over and has begun to find his name whispered in conversations for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. He’s unlikely to finish among the top three, but even reaching the top 10 in votes is an amazing jump from where he began.
And Brunson’s response?
“Means nothing to me,” he said.
His teammates, including those who have known him the longest, beg to differ.
“It’s incredible,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “I’m proud of him. But it’s also well-deserved. He puts in the work. You see guys get their name mentioned with other great players in the league, it’s a credit to him, but it’s also what type of person he is. It means a little bit more for everybody around him.”
In the final ESPN straw poll of 100 NBA media members this season, Brunson ascended to sixth in the voting, including three third-place votes. The votes for that were compiled on March 31 and April 1 — and Brunson has continued to drag the Knicks to the finish line with one masterpiece after another. Since Julius Randle and OG Anunoby went out with injuries — Anunoby returning for just 5 of the…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply