Why the Brunson Knicks remind me of Iverson’s 76ers

How did Jalen Brunson set a Knicks playoff record with 47 points? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores Brunson’s amazing series against Philadelphia, all of the counters he uses on and off ball, and how his patient approach to different defensive coverages has led to 86 points and 23 assists in the last 2 games.

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Jaylen Brunson is currently taking 29 shots per game in the playoffs which is incredible because the last player to shoot this much and win a playoff series was Allan Iverson back in 2001 AI put up 30 shots tonight while carrying a Grizzly group of Defenders all the way to the NBA finals and Brunson is performing a similar feet with a gritty team of Defenders and rebounders around him which was a epitomized in their game four win down in Philly before we get to that the first two games of this series were a shooting slog for Brunson he’s small by NBA standards so the 76ers stuck a bunch of bigger bodies on him and that extra length bothered him shooting just 29% from the floor in the opening two games now even though his shot was off and the pressure impacted his scoring all of the defensive attention he was given early in the series opened up opportunities to create for his teammates UB is hounding him away from the ball and overplaying the pass here so Brunson Cuts back door that collapses the defense and Kyle Lowry probably overh helps but we end up with four 76ers around Bronson and ultimately that cut leads to an open Corner three this time it’s Batum trying to stay with him off ball when he flies off the screen and catches it instantly jabs back to his right to use the pick and again Lowry is pulled way over off Josh Hart to help here three Defenders shifted to Brunson leaves Hart wide open at the top they get him off ball yet again UB is overplaying them this time on the pass so the ball goes to hartenstein First Brunson Cuts back door then touches it right back to him before the help can arrive so even in a poor shooting game when the defense throws that much attention at you good decision making can make life really easy for your teammates this time he’s on ball isolating against UB embiid stays to overload the strong side and help and when Brunson gets to the Baseline makes this beautiful one-handed pass for a dunk and we even saw some old school gravity in this game Brunson gets off the ball here they pitch it and swing it around they’re looking for that same back door cut on the overplay but UB is in front of Brunson this time so he cuts to the other side that creates a little confusion as Maxi calls for a switch UB is still focused on Brunson two guys go to him and dant chenzo is open for three so even with his struggles the Knicks ran just about everything through him even getting him off ball like this to come off screens for handoffs and collapse the defense that way here they set a pick in the back court to springham and with Joel embiid in a deep drop he can walk into a three and slowly but surely he started to find better shots in the flow of the game to uncor that scoring I liked his patience in this game this is a double screen where he could go left or right he actually faked left first then went right but pulled that back then he buckles UB with the In-N-Out but doesn’t force it against embid and Kyle Low’s pulled down to help so it’s another heart triple and off an offensive rebound here he waits for an Isaiah hartenstein screen doesn’t use it but sets up this little fake step back to get by his man and bounce it off for a little floater only when embiid went to the bench did he press toward the hoop Moore and before that one rolled in they went to a high pick and roll for him again the crossover to reject the screen and the big is out high so he attacks with that nasty jab cross and the layup brunson’s essentially attacking different Defenders differently Lowry’s on him here and he knows with his height Advantage he can go to a sweet spot and rise up over him but this time it’s the bigger Kelly UB so he pulls it back after the first cross waits for hartenstein to flip the screen and then pulls up in the pocket in front of him bead this time Nico Batum pounding him so he fakes the step back waits for hartenstein to again come over and change the angle of the pick at the last second then feels Harris cheating over so he swings it to OG anobi for an easy jumper compare that to this beauty where UB is working hard to fight around screens hardenstein flips it on him again and then he can just go vintage Brunson on him beid in the paint and in addition to masterful screening Jaylen has well in space here so the quick threat to shoot throws him off balance and the crossover into the floater do the rest this was basically just a master class in when to pull up pull back pass or just drive and that carried over into game four with a pick near half court note that embiid is out at the three-point line but again Jaylen dribbles his Defender right into the flipped screen so beat is out of position and that’s an easy pull-up jumper same concept here set the pick out High Brunson Jukes right but can’t shake UB rescreen and flip it and Beads out to meet him beyond the foul line now so it’s a big hesitation dribble while staring at the pocket pass that moves and bead back and creates a little space and on this one late in the second em beads out beyond the three-point line Jaylen sees that so he pulls it all the way out to half court on the rescreen and now he’s back to attacking in space and gets into that two-footed bag this one is an off ball counter where they want Brunson to come off a screen first but batum’s face guarding him to deny the catch so hartenstein just flips that screen and Jaylen flares out the other side and that is filthy and remember this is the same dude who set up his Defender for a fake screen earlier in the season so he’s just an encyclopedia of counter punches and setups out on the floor here’s another one where Brunson slow rolls his Man by stopping and looking right like there’s more screening action then crosses to get into the paint but embiid is waiting so he goes and chases the ball on the reset that pulls two Defenders and springs hard for a drive and some free throws and so even though Brun is the most ball dominant player in the league right now by time of possession getting him off the ball has pulled on Philly’s defense and opened up scoring windows for either himself or for his teammates as the defense scrambles around to recover another curveball they busted out was having an aobi screen for Brunson and then playing pure ISO ball if the help never came and he put Tobias Harris right in the torture chamber first with that Up and Under then with a series of Jabs and little hesitations just to set up a fake fadeaway into that sweet kiss and John Stark says do more of that by the way OG switching on to embiid after hartenstein left with five fouls was a critical part of this win because he was able to push embiid’s catches way out high with his strength and make getting him the ball difficult which ate up a bunch of the clock before they sent a double team and basically just short circuited the Philly clutch offense the other big part of this game was how tired and be and the Sixers were logging big minutes in the second half but the Knicks live to be tired hars averaging 41 minutes a game in the last month Brunson played 45 in game four and when you get tired that’s when they start dominating the offensive glass they scooped in seven offensive rebounds in in the fourth quarter of game four which meant they recovered nearly half of their misses and their technique of crashing and pushing Defenders closer to the basket protects them in transition while applying a ton of pressure on a scrambling tired defense like this look at how gassed Philly is on this play and Beads beyond the three-point line UB lets Brunson get back to the middle and no one has the energy to come help with Jaylen on the bench this season the Knicks had just a 108 offensive rating but that improved by 15 points into the 95th percentile when he was on the floor and a big part of that success comes all the way back to the variety of his attack and all those crafty high IQ counters he tries a quick ISO here but the defense collapses so he patiently resets only to rope a dop another crossover for an easy hoop and the harm but here it’s the Twan game where he snakes back to the corner and be drops off so he takes the little mid-ranger and this time he’s matched up with the smaller Maxi waits for the help Defender to leave then plays with his back to the basket for the 16t fade so this New York team isn’t really as defensively minded as Iverson’s 2001 Squad but they also have a ton of heart a defensive-minded coach and in the middle of it all is a Mighty Mouse guard with unbelievable skills and a dazzling array of counters who has patiently found his rhythm to pour in 86 points and 23 assists in the last two games so yeah they’re a little different but they do remind me of that AI team from two decades ago and while I don’t don’t know the answer yet the question is whether Jaylen Brunson can also take the Knicks all the way to the NBA finals to support us directly head over to patreon.com thinking basketball we have our Playoff stats board going Live this week a Discord community and more thanks as always for watching this one hope you are enjoying the playoffs and that you are having a great day