Jalen Brunson’s 45-Point Masterpiece in Game 5 Belongs in the Finals MVP Hall of Fame
Jalen Brunson finished his Finals run with 45 points in a closeout game on the road. Anyone who tried to tell you he was undersized, untraded for, or unworthy can take a seat.
The Knicks beat the Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 on Saturday night to win their first NBA championship in 53 years. Brunson did the heavy lifting. He scored 45 of his team’s 94 points. He attacked Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox, and Devin Vassell at every level of the defense. He hit five threes. He went 12 of 13 from the free throw line. He was the best player on the floor in a series where Victor Wembanyama was supposed to be the most talented man in the gym.
It was a Finals MVP performance that lined up with the regular-season MVP debate Brunson lost earlier this spring. The narrative all year was that he was a great player but not a top-five guy. Saturday was the day that argument died.
The pace of his attack was the most impressive part. Brunson had to score 45 in a slow, ugly half-court game. The Spurs kept doubling him on every catch. The Knicks ran constant pin downs and ghost screens to free him up. Castle defended him better than any other guard in the playoffs. None of it slowed him down.
He hit pull-up threes off ball screens. He drew fouls on contested layups. He carved up the paint with the same step-back he has used to torch defenders for years. He even hit a couple of mid-range jumpers over Wembanyama, which is the basketball equivalent of dunking on a 7-foot-4 shot blocker without leaving the ground.
The historical context matters. Brunson now joins a short list of guards who have scored 40-plus in a closeout Finals game. Michael Jordan did it. Stephen Curry did it. Jerry West did it. That is the club. Most players who reach this level of basketball success do not get to add a 45-point Game 5 to the resume. Brunson did it at 28 years old.
What makes the run even more impressive is how Brunson got here. He was an undersized college guard at Villanova who was not even considered a first-round lock. He was a second-round pick by Dallas. He spent four years as a backup before becoming a starter in his last Mavericks season. The Knicks signed him as a free agent because no other team thought he could lead a contender.
Four years later he has a title, a Finals MVP, and a permanent place in the history of one of the league’s most iconic franchises.
The dad joke writes itself. Rick Brunson, who watched every minute of this from the Knicks bench, refused to call his son the greatest Knick of all time after the game. He picked Patrick Ewing. That is hilarious in the immediate aftermath of his kid scoring 45 to clinch a championship.
The basketball world will spend the summer trying to figure out where Brunson belongs in any all-time conversation. He is going to get votes for top-three point guards in the league. He is going to be on the MVP ballot next year. He is going to be the face of the New York Knicks for as long as he wants to be.
Saturday’s 45 points were the moment he became all of that at once.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
