NEW YORK — It was about an hour before game time Monday afternoon that the Knicks announced that Jalen Brunson was back in the lineup after sitting out the last three games with a sore right hip. And it took just minutes after the game began that the difference was evident of what the Knicks look like with him back.
Brunson didn’t even score a point in the first quarter, but his presence and leadership quickly displayed a different Knicks team as they took the game over almost from the start. And when he shook the rust off he led the Knicks on an explosive 21-0 second-quarter burst to turn the game into a laugher, a 102-83 beatdown of the Phoenix Suns at Madison Square Garden.
Brunson in the lineup on any night or day is a crucial part of the Knicks' success, but this one brought back memories of Brunson and the Dallas Mavericks pummeling the Suns in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals last season. The Knicks lost two of three games in Brunson’s absence, the only win against Houston, the worst team in the West. And even if the Suns were missing Devin Booker and Cam Johnson, they carried a 20-17 record into the game.
