Jalen Brunson’s rise with the New York Knicks has done more than settle old arguments about small guards, midrange jumpers and defense. It has put a spotlight on one of the NBA’s oldest playoff truths: when the floor tightens and the defense gets serious, somebody still has to make the tough shots.
That was Brunson’s lane in 2025-26, and he owned it. He didn’t need to reinvent the sport or prove the league wrong. He just kept doing the thing contenders always need in the postseason - converting difficult looks with elite efficiency.
The playoffs have a way of stripping offenses down to their essentials. Clean looks disappear.
Weak defenders get targeted. Rotations get tighter, contests get harder, and the easy stuff dries up fast.
Even Brunson had to sharpen up defensively with stronger contests and tighter rotations for the Knicks to realize their potential.
That’s where players like Brunson separate themselves. When defenses are committed to taking away the rim and chasing shooters off the line, the midrange becomes the open space left behind.
It isn’t glamorous, and it definitely isn’t the math model’s favorite answer. But it keeps showing up when games matter most.
Brunson lived in that space all season, and especially in the playoffs. He worked into traffic, gave up size every time he rose up, and still found ways to get off midrange jumpers, floaters and step-back threes with a hand in his face. According to Basketball Index, he finished in the bottom half of the NBA in midrange shot quality while ranking in the 98th percentile in midrange shot making efficiency.
Jalen Brunson's One on One Shooting was elite last season. His midrange game is top notch, and his floater is among the best in the league pic.twitter.com/B9zkdUZIx4
- BBall Index (@The_BBall_Index) September 5, 2026
That kind of production isn’t a luxury in the playoffs. It’s a requirement. The source article points to Brunson on the 2026 Knicks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder, Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday on the 2024 Boston Celtics, and Jamal Murray on the 2023 Denver Nuggets as examples of teams that leaned on stars who could make bad shots and win anyway.
There’s a reason that skill keeps coming back into focus once the postseason starts. Defenses can run elite shooters off the arc and crowd the paint, but that still leaves the middle of the floor. The midrange is where great players can turn a possession, and sometimes a series, by making the shot that wasn’t supposed to be there.
That’s also why the shot creates ripple effects. When a big has to step out to challenge it, the baseline opens.
When wings collapse to contest, a three-point shooter can suddenly be left alone. One tough jumper can force a defense to stretch, shift and break shape.
So while the modern game still loves drive-and-kick action, Brunson’s season was a reminder that there’s another path once the first defender is beaten. In a playoff environment where everything gets harder, he mastered the shot-making that has always been necessary.
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