Latest Installment Of Knicks-Nets Highlighted By Jalen Brunson’s Dominance

Julius Randle may be going to the All-Star game but in the wake of recent seismic events in Brooklyn and his own performance of late, Jalen Brunson can possibly stake the claim to being the best NBA player on the New York pro scene.

Nobody on the Knicks was ever going to surpass the individual talents of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving but time can accelerate when certain events take place.

On Jan. 28, the Nets beat the Knicks for the ninth straight game, and it seemed they were merely biding their time until Durant returned from his sprained right knee. It also appeared they were better equipped to withstood Durant’s absence because of Irving’s fairly consistent availability as opposed to past seasons.

By Feb. 3, everything changed. In the middle of the afternoon word came out about Irving seeking a trade with the idea he preferred to join the Lakers to be reunited with LeBron James. Two days later the trade was in the works and by last Monday it was official with Irving being sent to Dallas for Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith.

Then came the news that kept NBA fans awake into the wee hours on the East Coast with reports of Durant being dealt to Phoenix.

And three games into the new era of the Nets, they were throttled by Brunson, who continues to show what a winning player looks like for a team who is looking to do more than a five-game playoff cameo.

There were an array of dazzling moves in the 15 shots Brunson made, which marked the third time he hit 15 field goals. All of those are in his 40-point game and several helped his case at being the best of pro basketball, especially the crossover layup around Joe Harris with about two minutes left in the third.

“It’s pretty obvious to all of us because we see him every night,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters after his team pulled away for an impressive 124-106 victory highlighted by Brunson joining Bernard King, Gerald Wilkins and Carmelo Anthony as the fourth Knick to get a 40-point game against the Nets.

The Nets received a decent return for Durant and Irving, but none are at the level Brunson is playing at. It is similar to how he performed last spring when Brunson averaged 21.6 points in 18 playoff games, helping Dallas to an upset of the top-seeded Phoenix Suns and a trip to the Western Conference finals while navigating through a Luka Doncic injury.

“I feel like playing with him last year especially when Luka wasn’t on the court, he showed glimpses of being one of those guys (who can dominate).” Dorian Finney-Smith said.

Brunson’s performance on Monday occurred at a time when the Nets seemed to be mixing and matching with various rotations. In theory it is something the Nets can slightly afford to do because of the 12-game winning streak and 18 wins in 20 games they put together earlier this season when Durant was still healthy, and Irving wasn’t asking for a trade.

“The thing is we have to do it,” Vaughn said. “We got to do it immediately. So, I gotta get a pulse of what the new guys can bring to the team but also try to not break up that rhythm. But it’s always what the group is gonna look like at the end of the day. So, we want all of them playing well.”

Among those alignments included playing Ben Simmons for 13 minutes and doing so with him as the third center. Simmons did not play the entire third quarter when the Nets could have used someone to stop Brunson and a few times TV cameras panned to him riding an exercise bike adjacent to the bench.

It’s been a long descent from a little over three years ago when he produced a dynamic triple-double for Philadelphia in Brooklyn. There was his reluctance to shoot in Game 7 of the conference semifinals a day after Durant’s foot was on the line which led to him sitting out the entire season with Philadelphia before being traded over for Brooklyn for Harden, who said he was not the “crazy one” for seeking a trade.

Many things are different now for the Knicks and Nets. Whether it is a rivalry remains to be seen until they meet in a playoff series according to both coaches but one thing seemed apparent Monday night.

And that was Brunson being the best in the New York NBA scene and the Nets will seemingly spending the rest of the season figuring out some rotations and where to get points in key moments such as fourth quarters.