It's over. The New York Knicks' hopes of hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy had a screeching halt because of injuries and a historic Indiana Pacers offense. While some avid spectators of the league still had to give their flowers to this squad for making it this far in the NBA Playoffs, others still continued to blast players. Paul Pierce is one of these individuals and he had to outline his dismay for Jalen Brunson.
If there's one individual that the Knicks faithful don't blast too much, it's Jalen Brunson. He gets Tom Thibodeau's offense going despite playing very heavy minutes. His team chemistry with Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo makes watching him all the more amazing every time. However, Paul Pierce just does not share the same sentiment. He even went on to stomp on the Knicks star's jersey, via House of Highlights.
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Jalen Brunson still put out his best effort despite all this vitriol. The Knicks star played 29 minutes for his squad while nursing an injury. His famished body clearly bothered him despite these efforts. He shot a horrid six for 17 from the field for just 17 points. But, Coach Thibs was still able to make the most out of his playmaking. He was able to drop nine assists against a tough Pacers squad.
For the NBA Playoffs, the Knicks have to give a lot of love for the effort he was exerting. Brunson. He saw the court for 40.7 minutes per night. All of this happened while shooting at an insane 44.9% clip from all three levels of scoring for 33.7 points. Whenever the Pacers made the mistake of fouling him, he also shot 77.4% from the charity stripe.
Knicks fans get criticized
Brunson was not the only one who got blasted by the Boston Celtics legend. Paul Pierce even went on to blast Tom Thibodeau's squad after losing to the Pacers.
“Yall Knick fans are delusional. STFU and get over it ya season is over deal with it. Good yr tho,” he wrote on X.
After pushing the Pacers to seven games while being depleted, this may not have been the most fair take to put out there. They still notched impressive wins behind astounding performances from Brunson and the rest of the Villanova alums.
It was just in Game 7 where everything started to haunt the Knicks. OG Anunoby went down and then Brunson had to deal with his aching body. The Pacers saw this and took advantage of it. They went on an insane run and the Knicks were left with no answers for a historically dominant NBA Playoffs outing. By the end of the matchup, the Tyrese Haliburton-led squad had knocked down 67.1% of their shots from the field and 54.1% from beyond the arc.
The Knicks were eating up punches and unable to hit back. Despite having 85 shots chucked up, they only managed to sink 42.4% of their shots. Their outside shooting was also worse as their shots only saw the bottom of the net 37.1% of the time.
There is always next season to look forward to, Knicks fans.
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