Jalen Brunson just had one of his most heartbreaking moments as a member of the New York Knicks. The 26-year-old blew two crucial free throws late in the game that ended up seeing the Knicks fall to the Chicago Bulls, 118-117.

To be fair, the Bulls needed an ice-cold DeMar DeRozan game-winner to clinch the victory. However, it was Brunson's missed free throws that gave Chicago a fighting chance in the first place. Brunson could have given New York a three-point lead if he made both attempts from the line, and at the very least, the odds of Chicago securing a win via a last-second four-point play would have been very small.

It is what it is, though. For his part, Brunson was clearly ruing his missed free throws after the game. When asked to pinpoint what area of the game he felt the Knicks could have been better at, the 6-foot-1 guard got brutally honest in his response:

“One: make free throws,” Brunson said. “Put the game away when we had a bigger lead. Just played better on the defensive side of the ball.”

Brunson was also visibly disappointed with himself after seeing Knicks teammate RJ Barrett explode for 44 points. Barrett's heroics ended up getting wasted in a heart-wrenching loss for the Knicks.

“He played amazing tonight,” Brunson said of Barrett, “I just couldn't close it for him.”

Jalen Brunson was then asked to describe his level of frustration over his inability to deliver in the clutch for the Knicks:

“Yeah, it's frustrating,” he said. “(I) practice all the time. I'm confident when I get to the line. Just missed it.”

Brunson and Co. will need to dust themselves off quickly after this loss. It's the red-hot Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers up next for them on Christmas Day in Madison Square Garden.