Jalen Brunson opens up about Knicks' epic 19-point comeback vs. Heat
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The New York Knicks may still be in the process of figuring things out even after being well into the 2024-25 season, but one thing’s for sure: they are a good team that can make some noise come postseason time. The Knicks simply don’t know when to quit, as evidenced by the resiliency they showed during their 116-112 overtime win over the Miami Heat on Sunday night that required them to come back from 19 points down.
In the first half, the Knicks struggled to find a rhythm; they shot 17-47 from the field (36.2 percent) and 6-23 from beyond the arc, which is far from a recipe for success. But in the second half, New York came alive, thanks in large part to Jalen Brunson. Brunson scored 20 of his 31 points in the second half, willing his team back into the game and then hitting the three in overtime that gave the Knicks a lead that they would no longer relinquish.
“It doesn’t matter what the score is. I mean, we’re gonna keep fighting no matter what. I don’t really care what clicks. That’s what we’re gonna do,” Brunson said in his postgame interview, via Knicks on MSG. “We’re capable as a team, and Thibs knows that. He just had to remind us. When we get to a slow start, obviously, we got to come back with some fire.”
No matter what – @jalenbrunson1 is going to find a way to help @nyknicks win. #NewYorkForeverpic.twitter.com/olZ07QUXC5
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) March 3, 2025
Indeed, any team in the NBA cannot be perfect in their execution every single night. If so, they would sleepwalk into a championship. Nonetheless, as Karl-Anthony Towns said in the past, the Knicks are a work in progress, and showing that they can win despite suffering through a horrendous 24-minute stretch of basketball is a good sign that they are figuring something out.
Knicks fall short of the 40-20 club: a bad omen?
As the legendary Phil Jackson once said, a team has to win 40 games before they lose 20 to qualify as a legitimate championship contender. Now, the Knicks, despite moving to 40-20 on the year with their win over the Heat, barely missed out on this distinction, as they lost their 20th game of the season before they won their 40th.
While this is not an exact science, the Knicks will be facing an uphill climb in their quest to win a title. They have to clean up their execution against the league’s best teams; in particular, they’ve struggled against the top two teams in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.
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