Jalen Brunson scored 22 points with six assists and four rebounds as the Knicks swept the 76ers and reached the Eastern Conference finals. The win pushed New York into the conference finals for the first time in a generation of failed runs and gave Brunson another line for a résumé that keeps growing.
Since Brunson arrived in New York in July 2022, the Knicks have won at least 45 games every season and posted 50-plus wins in each of the last three campaigns. They have reached the second round of the playoffs every year since he joined, a stretch that stands in sharp contrast to the years before his arrival, when the franchise made it out of the first round just once between 2001 and 2022.
Brunson's individual numbers now sit with some of the best in franchise and league history. He ranks sixth in NBA history in playoff points scored through a player's first 50 games with a franchise, and he has scored 300 more points than Patrick Ewing through his first 50 playoff games with the Knicks. For a team that spent years chasing stars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brunson has gone from being viewed as a possible core piece to the player who now drives the whole thing.
Mitchell Robinson did not sound interested in understating it. He said Brunson has definitely proved himself, and added that he does not think the guard gets enough credit for what he has done for the team over the last five years, before saying they do not give him his credit. Brunson was last year's Clutch Player of the Year, but the bigger point in New York is simpler: the Knicks now have a lead player who has turned Madison Square Garden back into a place where spring basketball lasts.
The sweep changes the tone around a franchise that has spent decades waiting for proof it could matter again. The next test is bigger than a single series, because the Knicks have already shown they can win in the regular season and survive the early rounds; now they have to show that Brunson's rise can carry them even farther.
