According to 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 Jalen Brunson “remembers essentially being benched” in the Mavs’ 2021 first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers, but Botte revealed words from Brunson that say the opposite:
“Coaches must make decisions that best suit their teams. Whatever happened, happened and we will move forward from there,” Brunson said.
The Villanova product credited much of his maturation in his first few seasons to coaching at Carlisle. As for the Mavs’ first-round loss to the Clippers in 2021, Brunson only averaged about 16 minutes per game. Therefore, the 10 minutes he saw in Dallas’ Game 7 loss were not a clear decline. He wasn’t much of a factor with just two points on 1-3 shooting from the field in that game.
Brunson has been the best playoff performer 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 nearly identical 35.6 points per night in the three games played. -game series of the season, even though the Knicks lost 2-1.
The Pacers finished the season as the highest-scoring team (123.3 points per game) and best-distributing club (30.8 assists per game) in the Association. Brunson and the Knicks will be busy trying to contain Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers team that upset the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and scored at least 120 points in four of six games.