Jalen Brunson led the shorthanded New York Knicks to a 4-2 series win over reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers and now has the chance to send one of his former head coaches home in the second round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Brunson and the No. 3-seeded Knicks will be squaring off against the No. 6-seeded Indiana Pacers led by head coach Rick Carlisle. Brunson played under Carlisle for the first three seasons of his career with the Dallas Mavericks. However, the way their player-coach relationship ended was not pleasant according to recent reports.
Knicks: Jalen Brunson may have extra motivation to beat the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals
Per Peter Botte of the New York Post, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon assured the NBA world on a recent episode of The Hoops Collective podcast that Brunson “remembers getting essentially benched in” the Mavs’ 2021 first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers, but Botte revealed words from Brunson that say otherwise:
“Coaches got to make decisions that better suit their teams. Whatever happened, happened, and we’re moving forward from there,” Brunson said.
The Villanova product did credit much of his maturation in his first few seasons to Carlisle’s coaching. As for the Mavs’ first-round loss to the Clippers in 2021, Brunson only averaged roughly 16 minutes per game. Therefore, the 10 minutes he saw in Dallas’s Game 7 loss was not a stark dropoff. He wasn’t much of a factor with only two points on 1-3 shooting from the field in that outing.
Brunson & Carlisle had nothing but respectful words for each other ahead of pivotal playoff series
No matter, Brunson would go on to average 16.3 points and 4.8 assists in his final year in Dallas without Carlisle, and has risen to fringe-MVP status with the Knicks. Carlisle had nothing but positive things to say about Brunson as he prepares to game plan on how to stop the 2024 All-Star.
The former 2002 Coach of the Year will need to equip his perimeter defense to stymie Brunson, who lit up the 76ers for 35.5 points and nine assists per contest.
What Brunson and Carlisle have achieved leading up to their ECSF clash
Brunson has been the standout performer of the playoffs so far and can help New York reach their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2000. The New Jersey native also excelled against Indiana in the regular season, averaging a near-identical 35.6 points a night in their three-game season series, though the Knicks lost 2-1.
The Pacers finished the season as the highest-scoring team (123.3 points per game) and best-distributing ball club (30.8 assists per game) in the Association. Brunson and the Knicks will have their hands full trying to contain Tyrese Haliburton and a Pacers team that upset the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and scored at least 120 points in four of their six contests.