By the true definition of the term Most Valuable Player, arguably, no one has been more valuable to their team than Jalen Brunson was to the New York Knicks. He thinks about the adversity the Knicks overcame to finish with 50 wins and second place in the Eastern Conference. Not to mention overcoming the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs. Now Brunson is leading his team to their first win against the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. While Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic will have the most MVP votes for the regular season, and deservedly so. By definition, Brunson is the true MVP, certainly in the playoffs.
Brunson finished fourth in the NBA in scoring 28.7 points per game. He finished with 6.7 assists and 48% from the field.
Well beyond the score, Brunson’s All-Star Julius Randle missed the rest of the season. As well as passing OG Anunoby by losing 27 games after arriving via trade in December.
Last season’s starting center Mitchell Robinson missed most of the regular season with an injury and is now most likely out the rest of the way with an ankle stress injury. If all that wasn’t enough, Bojan Bogdanovic will now miss the rest of the year with a foot injury .
Coach Tom Thibodeau played with a short seven-man rotation with no one on the bench to support Brunson’s scoring and playmaking, other than Miles McBride who is more off guard. This gave Brunson an unreal workload to handle. Not only did he do it, but he made history every night in the playoffs.