![\"Jalen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1920x1080-17.png\")
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Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks reacts during an NBA Finals game.<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks<\/a> are one win away from winning their first NBA championship in 53 years. The Knicks will play Game 5 against the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> on Saturday at the Frost Bank Center.<\/p>\n Down by as much as 29 points in Game 3, the Knicks battled back to complete the greatest comeback in NBA Finals<\/a> history to beat the Spurs 107-106<\/a>.<\/p>\n OG Anunoby<\/a> tipped in the game-winning shot, while Jalen Brunson<\/a> had a game-high 36 points.<\/p>\n Magic Johnson Sends Jalen Brunson Message GettyJalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks reacts during the second quarter against the San Antonio Spurs in Game One of the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center on June 03, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas.<\/p>\n In an appearance on ESPN\u2019s Get Up<\/a> on Friday, five-time champ and NBA legend Magic Johnson<\/a> discussed the NBA Finals with Mike Greenberg. Johnson was asked about the narrative surrounding Jalen Brunson, whom some people thought was \u201ctoo little\u201d to lead a team to a title.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hear me start laughing?\u201d Johnson said, via NBA Courtside on X<\/a>. \u201cYou know why the man is a winner? He won in high school, won at Villanova. This the guy who you want have on your team in those moments in the situation where he\u2019ll figure it out. He\u2019s so intelligent and he\u2019s tough physically and mentally, so this doesn\u2019t surprise me.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Jalen Brunson want he stands for, what he\u2019s capable of in the biggest moments, and he\u2019s been doing it his whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n Brunson won a state title in high school and was even named Mr. Basketball in Illinois. He had a legendary career at Villanova<\/a>, leading the Wildcats to two NCAA championships in 2016 and 2018.<\/p>\n But due to his size, Brunson dropped to the second round of the 2018 NBA<\/a> draft. He had his breakout year in his fourth season with the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>, helping them reach the Western Conference Finals in 2022.<\/p>\n Brunson used that season to get a four-year, $104 million contract with the New York Knicks in free agency.<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson\u2019s Case For Being The GOAT Knick GettyJalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks dribbles the ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> during the third quarter in Game Two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on May 21, 2026 in New York City.<\/p>\n In just four seasons with the New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson has already established himself as one of the greatest players in franchise history. Brunson has turned into a real superstar for the Knicks, averaging 26.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game.<\/p>\n But what if Brunson leads the Knicks to their first title since 1973? Will he become the greatest player in franchise history? ESPN\u2019s Stephen A. Smith thinks so.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the New York Knicks win the conference tournament, and they end up advancing to the Finals, and they win the Finals with Jalen Brunson doing what he does, Jalen Brunson will go down as the greatest New York Knickerbocker in history,\u201d Smith said<\/a> on his YouTube show<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n \u201cBetter than Walt \u2018Clyde\u2019 Frasier, better than Bernard King, better than Patrick Ewing, all of it. He\u2019ll go down as the greatest Knick of all time if he delivers the championship to this city. No doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Patrick Ewing is generally considered the GOAT Knicks player ever, even though he never brought a title.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJuan Paolo David<\/a> Juan Paolo David is a sports journalist covering basketball for Heavy. He has a decade of experience writing about the NBA and WWE. He’s currently based in the Philippines. More about Juan Paolo David<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks reacts during an NBA Finals game. The New York Knicks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-734103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jalen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2279700188-e1780566936974.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Jalen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/jalen-brunson-new-york-knicks.jpg\")
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