Spurs physical Jalen Brunson approach wrecking everything and Knicks have no choice but to fight back
It’s been pretty blatant.The Spurs, after Jalen Brunson’s huge fourth quarter carried the Knicks to their Game 1 victory, have made a clear effort the past two games to be as physical with Brunson as possible and rough him up.It seemed to cross the line a few times, though no flagrants were given. Most notably, Victor Wembanyama shoved Brunson to the ground by the back of his head as Brunson was trying to set a screen on him in the first quarter of the Knicks’ 115-111 Game 3 loss to the Spurs on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
Brunson got up and jawed at Wembanyama while the play was still ongoing, but not even a common foul was called. Other times in the first half, Stephon Castle and Carter Bryant lined Brunson up and trucked him while pretending to go for rebounds.Those were both called common fouls, but neither was upgraded to a flagrant.
At the end of Game 2, De’Aaron Fox pushed Brunson, got in his face and sparked a brief scrum. “I think that’s not basketball,” Jose Alvarado said Tuesday of Wemby’s shove.“That’s something that they gotta look at.
But he got away with one.That’ll be the last one.”While Alvarado’s sentiment is nice, it’s not exactly a shock that the feisty and brash backup from Brooklyn was ready to talk tough.It would not be wise for the hardly 6-foot Alvarado to try to fight the 7-foot-4 Wemby. And the Knicks don’t need to start fighting.
What would be more impactful is if they help Brunson fight through all that physicality. Brunson has shot just 37.0 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from deep along with 13 turnovers across the three games of the Finals.The Spurs have succeeded — where every other team this postseason has failed — in preventing Brunson from being at his best. The Spurs are picking up Brunson the full length of the court, causing the Knicks to get into their sets much slower than they’d want.
They are holding, pulling and bumping Brunson off the ball to make it harde...