Kenny Atkinson had it right after Game 2. “You’ve got to pick your poison.” For the Cavs, though, Jalen Brunson made every option feel like a bad one.
On Wednesday, Cleveland’s game plan was clear. Keep Brunson from scoring. They threw blitzes at him and sent double teams his way. Statistically speaking, it worked—he didn’t light them up as a scorer.
Instead, he finished with 19 points and a playoff career-high 14 assists in the New York Knicks’ 109-93 win. That stat line told the real story of the night.
The Knicks didn’t need Brunson to take over as a scorer. What they needed was for him to trust his teammates and keep the ball moving within the flow of their offence. And that’s exactly what he did.
How Brunson adjusted his approach
Brunson had a usage rate of just 24.1 in Game 2, his fourth-lowest mark in 54 playoff appearances for the Knicks. It’s not the type of number you’d expect from someone who usually commands so much of New York’s offence.
But even with the lower usage, Cleveland didn’t back off. Brunson responded by moving the ball early and then re-engaging once the defence had already adjusted away from him.
“They were sending two to the ball, and I was able to find my teammates and we were knocking shots down,” he said.
Brunson didn’t try to force his way into the game. He let Cleveland dictate how they wanted to play him, then found ways to turn that approach against them.
Knicks’ offensive movement
One thing that stood out about this game was how well New York moved without the ball. The Knicks scored 34 points in the first quarter and shot over 60% from three-point range early on because they stayed active away from the ball and forced Cleveland into tough spots.
The defence couldn’t keep up with all those actions. New York got clean looks both inside and out by spreading things around, thanks largely to how Brunson managed possessions without needing to do everything himself.
This approach paid off across all four quarters as New York kept up its pace until late when Cleveland couldn’t catch up anymore.
Cleveland coach James Borrego admitted after Game 2 that he wasn’t thrilled with how quickly things moved for his team early on: “Our pace was out of control at times,” Borrego said. “We’ve got some young guards that are just coming into these moments.”
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