Dylan Backer
While the New York Knicks are still playing good basketball over the past few weeks, Jalen Brunson has entered a shooting slump. The All-NBA guard is still averaging just north of 26 points per game, but his efficiency has trickled down of late.
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson is in a cold shooting spell
In his last three games, Brunson is shooting just 32% from the field with 16.3 points per game. It’s a small sample size, and almost all players go through midseason slumps, but the lack of scoring is uncharacteristic for Brunson.
Granted, he has still found ways to impact the game positively despite the poor shooting. In that same three-game span, Brunson is averaging 12.3 assists per game, including back-to-back nights of 15 assists against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets.
New York relies on Brunson to do the bulk of the scoring and shot creating, so when his shot isn’t falling, they tend to go through the motions offensively. The Knicks have been able to maintain their winning ways thanks to their elite defense, as they have been the best defense in the league for over a month.
The Knicks hope Brunson will snap out of it soon
However, they still will want Brunson to get out of this funk soon in order to end the year on a high note. The Knicks are still very much playing for the second seed in the Eastern Conference, though they trail the Boston Celtics by 2.5 games with only 17 games remaining on the schedule.
Ultimately, it is too soon to be genuinely concerned about Brunson’s recent struggles, as he will likely snap out of it soon. They should be more concerned about the inconsistency of Mikal Bridges, who went scoreless in 27 minutes of action against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Brunson will have an opportunity to end the drought on Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers.
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