Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has grown accustomed to the brilliance of Jalen Brunson.
Spoelstra coached against the New York Knicks star and tried everything in his defensive scheme to stop him last spring. However, Brunson almost single-handedly beat his vaunted Heat team in the second round of the playoffs last season, averaging 31.0 points on 50.4 percent shooting and 6.3 assists. Then, in the summer, he coached the Knicks star on Team USA in the FIBA World Cup in Manila, Philippines.
So when he praised Brunson before the Heat beat the Knicks 109-99 on Tuesday, April 2 in Miami, it wasn’t just lip service.
“He’s having an MVP season,” Spoelstra told reporters, according to the New York Post. “He’s at that level right now where you’re not taking things away from him.”
Spoelstra, voted by general managers as the best coach in the NBA when it comes to player motivation, in-game adjustments and best defensive schemes, described how difficult it was to hold Brunson to 20 points on 5 of 18 shooting nights.