Jalen Brunson: ‘We have to pay attention to the little details’

The Knicks A lot of the games we play until the end of this season have money-time opponents Raptors was particularly epic.

Last night at Madison Square Garden, the third set between the two teams in less than a month, after Toronto’s first victory (106-113) in New York on December 21, offered a truly exciting new scenario, and then the men of the team narrowly there was a revenge. Tom Thibodeau on Jan. 6 at Canada (112-108).

On this “MLK Day” tight end again at MSG, the Raptors pulled away in the fourth quarter and took the third shot (123-121) in overtime, ending the Knicks’ very good streak. seven of the last eight games before the meeting.

When the game was in their hands, the Knicks still failed to deal a fatal blow to their “money time” opponents: a 10-point lead at the beginning of the last quarter, even one point in the game. last minute. A recurring and frustrating scenario for the New York franchise, reminiscent of last week’s losses against Milwaukee or late December against Chicago and Dallas.

Another fatal oversight at the end of the match

” This is frustrating. We always want to win in front of our fans, who are among the best in the world. ” moreover, lamented Jalen Brunson as his team lost what are considered “clutch games” (by 5 points with less than 5 minutes to play) for the 12th time in 23 home games, and more broadly, the 5th time in 13 games. . ” But here’s the game: when the team arrives [au Madison Square Garden], he wants to give it all in a mythical space. So I think we should stay the course towards the end of the game. We have to pay attention to small details. A couple of our losses have come down to one or two possessions. »

From” small details the point guard’s missed free throws and missed offensive rebounds at crucial moments are undoubtedly the most important causes of frustration for Tom Thibodeau’s team.

Because if the Knicks missed “only” 7 free throws, that’s the same as the Raptors, who missed a game-killing chance at the penalty line in the final minute when Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle each missed a free throw. probably could have secured the win at this point and avoided overtime. As for offensive rebounds, here we can simply see the summary of the match: the men of “Thibs” dominated in this area throughout the match (20 to 14), but did not know how to finish, separated, still in the game. In the last minute, Scottie Barnes made the most important offensive rebound of the match to lead 108-107.

” We have to make sure that we are 1 or 2% ahead of our competitors “Jalen Brunson, the icon of the Knicks, who was so close to the goal but just a little too short, finished off a skill-rich match with a rebounding “game-winner” attempt at the bottom of the circle (11/29 in the shot).” It’s a shot I work with often. I saw him there when I dropped the ball. »