Jalen Brunson Just Joined Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals Record Book. The Knicks Finally Have Their Guy.
Jalen Brunson dropped 45 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to clinch the Knicks’ first title in over half a century, and in the process he wrote himself into a piece of history that very few players ever touch.
Brunson became the fourth player in NBA Finals history to score 45 or more points in a closeout game. The other names on the list are Michael Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Bob Pettit. That is the entire club.
For a player who was undrafted out of high school as a top recruit, drafted 33rd overall by the Mavericks, and once seen as a sidekick to Luka Doncic, this is the kind of arrival nobody saw coming.
Brunson averaged 32.6 points in the series. He was 14-for-27 from the field in the close-out game, including 4-for-7 from three and 13-for-16 from the line. He took over the fourth quarter. He hit the dagger. He absorbed every defensive scheme San Antonio threw at him.
The Knicks needed this. They had not won a title since 1973. Patrick Ewing came close. Carmelo Anthony came close. Brunson is the player who finished it.
What is wild about his story is how quickly the Brunson era at Madison Square Garden was built. He signed with New York in 2022 on what looked like an overpay at the time. Four years later he has a championship, a Finals MVP trophy, and the loudest fanbase in the league behind him.
Coach Tom Thibodeau deserves credit too. He built a system around Brunson’s strengths. He trusted him to play heavy minutes. He surrounded him with shooters and defenders. The roster construction did not look glamorous on paper. It worked because the philosophy fit the star.
The other Knicks who rose to the moment matter just as much. OG Anunoby was the defensive anchor. Mikal Bridges hit the biggest shots when teams sagged off Brunson. Josh Hart was a connecting force every night.
This was also a vindication of the franchise’s patience. The Knicks declined to mortgage their future for a marquee free agent. They built through smart trades. They paid their guys. They drafted well. They proved you can win a championship without an A-tier superstar if you have a top-five point guard and a defensive infrastructure.
Brunson’s 45 points in Game 5 will go down as one of the iconic individual performances in Finals history. It belongs alongside Jordan in 1998. It belongs alongside Giannis in 2021.
The Knicks have a star who can carry them for the next half-decade. New York has not been able to say that since the Bernard King era.
The Bill Russell trophy is in his hands. The duck boats are getting cleaned. The Garden has a new banner. The Knicks finally have their guy.
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.
