The cameras were rolling, the NBA Finals MVP trophy was in his hands and, here, finally, the world would get to hear what Jalen Brunson thinks. Even in a fishbowl like New York, Brunson has managed to maintain an air of mystery. Some of it is intentional. In interviews Brunson chooses his words carefully, revealing little. “Methodical and intentional,” is how Brunson’s mother, Sandra, once described her son’s Belichickian approach to interviews. Some of it is not.
In the final seconds of the Eastern Conference finals–clinching win in Cleveland, cameras panned to a Knicks roster in full celebration … with an expressionless Brunson planted on the bench behind them. “I was icing my knees,” explained Brunson. “I didn’t even want to get up.” Yet here, in the aftermath of New York’s 94–90 title-clinching win, after delivering a 45-point masterpiece, at the end of the Knicks’ 53-year championship drought, Brunson would finally open up. “I got no words,” he said. “It’s everything I ever dreamed of.”
