NEW YORK — A head-to-toe study of Jalen Brunson inspires a lot of questions, none more obvious than these two:
How does he do it?
How does a 6-foot-2 guard with a common man’s body and an old man’s game become an NBA superstar?
You might recall that the Knicks hired his father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant in 2022 before hiring the former Mavericks guard himself. They tampered to get him, of course, and lost a 2025 second-round pick as punishment.
It’s one of the greatest trades ever, not to mention an advertisement for the notion that crime does sometimes pay. That was crystal clear again Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden, where Brunson finished with 39 points, eight assists and only one turnover — on a bad wheel, no less — in a 126-97 Game 5 victory over an Atlanta Hawks team that suddenly seems ready to book a few tee times.
But back to those questions that Brunson always puts into play. This one recently popped up at the bottom of the ESPN screen:
“Can Brunson Be Best Player On Championship Team?”
Though that might sound like something of a slight, it was actually a compliment, or an upgrade on the popular query from when he landed in New York.
“Can Brunson Be Second-Best Player On Championship Team?”
The answers won’t be available this spring, of course, unless Brunson leads the Knicks to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999. Their first order of business is finishing off the Hawks in Atlanta on Thursday night, which is absolutely something a championship-caliber team would do, rather than activate the insurance policy that is a Game 7 in the Garden.
But if the Game 5 Brunson shows up in Game 6 — especially the one who scored 17 points in the fourth quarter — the Knicks will advance to the second round of the playoffs and see if the Boston Celtics can meet them there.
Before tipoff Tuesday night, Atlanta coach Quin Snyder spoke of Brunson as a dynamic offensive player who can beat opponents in so many different ways. The Hawks had been blitzing him off screens and doubling him late in the shot clock with some degree of success, making life difficult for the Knicks captain ever since he scored 19 in the first quarter of Game 1.
“We’ll keep putting different guys on him, changing matchups, trying to do anything we can to make it hard on him,” Snyder said. “I have tremendous respect for him as a player and a leader, and (with) his ability to create for himself and then create for teammates, it’s not easy.”
Nothing was easy for the Hawks, who started Dyson Daniels on Karl-Anthony Towns and Nickeil Alexander-Walker on Brunson and hoped for the best.
The plan quickly collapsed, and the Knicks were up by 13 points at the end of the first quarter … and by 22 points in the second quarter. By halftime, Brunson and KAT had combined for 31 points on 13-of-18 shooting with eight assists against two turnovers.
Earlier in the series, Snyder said he believed his players wouldn’t get discouraged if the Knicks kept scoring on them. But as the points piled up, Atlanta’s body language powered down.
The Knicks blasted the Hawks on the boards, too, exposing Atlanta’s lack of physicality and size. “OG [Anunoby] and KAT were monsters,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown. “They were phenomenal.”
Just not as phenomenal as Brunson, who was limping here and there while doing his damnedest to hide the effects of a tweaked ankle. Brown said his strategy with his franchise player was simple: “We’re just trying to move him around as much as we can so they can’t catch a rhythm with him.”
Brunson compared the Knicks’ moves and Atlanta’s counters to a game of chess. As it turned out, he was Magnus Carlsen, and the Hawks were playing checkers.
Brown loves coaching Brunson as much, he said, as he loved coaching Steph Curry. He called his guard’s work ethic “off the charts” and “one of the highest levels that I’ve been around.”
To compensate for his lack of elite size, length and athleticism, Brunson beats taller, longer and faster players with the kind of footwork he showed in the fourth quarter of Game 5. The kind of footwork applied by the greats at all positions on the floor.
Kobe Bryant. Kyrie Irving. Hakeem Olajuwon. Kevin McHale.
On one sequence, Brunson knocked back 6-foot-9 Jalen Johnson with a series of crossover dribbles, hit the brakes near the foul line, then legally hopped off his pivot foot for a right-handed scoop in the lane. On another, Brunson beat the 6-foot-7 Daniels with a duck-under floater in the lane while getting fouled by 6-foot-5 Alexander-Walker.
JALEN BRUNSON BAG WORK 😮💨😮💨
He’s got 34 on 14-22 shooting in Game 5! pic.twitter.com/9xNCVVx4zy
— NBA (@NBA) April 29, 2026
The captain left the floor for good with 3:28 to play, and with 33 more points scored than his antagonist, CJ McCollum. “A big game from a big-time player,” Brown called it. The Garden thanked Brunson and his teammates with a rousing ovation.
“No place like this place,” Brunson said.
He could have scored another bucket to clear 40, but it wasn’t necessary. In his time as a Knick, Brunson already led the league with eight 40-point playoff games.
But no stat will stop the questions. On a recent edition of the “No Fouls Given” podcast, Hall of Famer Paul Pierce offered up an observation that plenty of intelligent league observers agree with.
“If your best player is 6-2,” Pierce said, “it’s going to be tough for you to win a championship.”
Yes, it’s going to be very difficult for these Knicks to win it all for the first time since 1973. But as important as KAT is to the Knicks’ long-term prospects, Brunson will be the one to lead them.
He will make or miss the season-defining shots, and validate his standing as one of the league’s most improbable superstars along the way.
