Jalen Brunson doesn’t need much help getting to his spots, but the Knicks may have stumbled onto a way to make him even nastier the next time out: stop making him work so hard in games that are already under control.
That’s the bigger takeaway from New York’s blowout of the Chicago Bulls, when Brunson played fewer than 30 minutes for the first time all season. He still looked like himself, pouring in 33 points on 17 shot attempts.
But the more interesting part comes after that. When Brunson gets a lighter night, the numbers say his next game tends to pop.
Since joining the Knicks, Brunson has gone under 30 minutes 32 times. After removing the Bulls game from the equation - he hasn’t played again yet - and one case where that sub-30-minute outing was his final appearance of the season, the sample settles at 30 follow-up games.
In those next outings, Brunson has scored 28.9 points per 36 minutes. In every other Knicks game, that number sits at 26.7.
That’s not a massive jump on paper, but for a player who lives in the toughest shot-making territory on the floor, it matters. The efficiency spike is even clearer inside the arc.
After a game in which he played under 30 minutes, Brunson shoots 55.7 percent on two-pointers. In all other games, he’s at 51.6 percent.
His three-point shooting gets a slight bump too, and the overall true shooting surge is eye-catching. A line of 28.7 points per 36 minutes on better than 61 true shooting would put him in rare company. Last season, that group included Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Victor Wembanyama.
This isn’t an argument for the Knicks to cap Brunson’s minutes every night. That’s not realistic unless they’re cruising the way they did during one of those absurd playoff runs. The point is simpler: when the game script allows it, New York should stop grinding him down.
There have already been chances. The Knicks trailed by as many as 19 points in their first win over Chicago.
They also let a game against the Brooklyn Nets get messier than it needed to because of a brutal third quarter. And in their win over the Jalen Duren-less Detroit Pistons, they spent time playing from behind by double digits.
Those are the moments that matter over the course of a long season, especially for a team coming off two straight deep playoff runs. Every time the Knicks can avoid running their starters into the ground, that’s a win in itself. And if the numbers hold, it may also set Brunson up for an even bigger night the next time he takes the floor.
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