{"id":346914,"date":"2026-09-15T01:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T01:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/346914\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T01:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T01:08:12","slug":"jalen-brunson-appears-in-emmy-awards-open-with-mariska-hargitay-nbc-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/346914\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson appears in Emmy Awards open with Mariska Hargitay \u2013 NBC New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mariska Hargitay got an assist from the point guard of the New York Knicks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before the actor took the stage to host the Emmy Awards<\/a> on Monday, Jalen Brunson appeared in the opening of a pre-recorded sketch that led into her opening monologue.<\/p>\n

It opened with the two steaming their wardrobes — Hargitay her gown and Brunson his No. 11 jersey.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s just a lot of pressure,” Hargitay told Brunson, who in June led the Knicks to their first NBA championship in 53 years. “Have you ever felt like you have millions of eyes on you and it all comes down to one night?”<\/p>\n

“Seriously?” a dismayed Brunson responded. <\/p>\n

“Hey, Jalen, it’s just me, alright. I don\u2019t have anyone to tap it in for me,” Hargitay said, alluding to the iconic game-winning tip-in by Brunson’s teammate OG Anunoby in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. <\/p>\n

Music then began playing, and Hargitay rushed out, leaving an angry Brunson behind. <\/p>\n

“Oh my gosh, the opening number!” she said. “It started. I gotta get to the airport. I don\u2019t have time to sit around and steam outfits with you. I gotta go. Let yourself out.”<\/p>\n

Hargitay and Brunson formed a close friendship after Brunson joined the Knicks in 2022, with the star of NBC’s \u201cLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit\u201d regularly seated courtside at Madison Square Garden, including earlier this year during the team’s title run.<\/p>\n

They bonded after the longtime Knicks fan learned that Brunson is a longtime \u201cSVU\u201d fan.<\/p>\n

“I was so flattered and thrilled, because I was such a huge fan,” Hargitay said last year on NBC\u2019s \u201cLate Night with Seth Meyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunson said on his podcast \u201cThe Roommates Show\u201d that, while he was growing up, \u201cSVU\u201d was always on at his house. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“I just remember my dad always watching the show,” he said. “You just hear the iconic ‘dun-dun’ all the time in the house.”<\/p>\n

Brunson still watches the show, saying it\u2019s part of his game-day routine.<\/p>\n

“It’s a pregame show for me,” Brunson said on his podcast. “I’ve always loved that show.”<\/p>\n

So much so that he said he was starstruck when he first met Hargitay. The two now share an on-court embrace when Hargitay is in attendance for a Knicks\u2019 win \u2013 making the team\u2019s other courtside celebrity superfans jealous.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe love that Mariska Hargitay gets from you post-game is the envy of every other Knicks celebrity fan,\u201d Ben Stiller told Brunson on his podcast.<\/p>\n

Hargitay \u2013 and Stiller — even appeared on a float during the team\u2019s championship parade down the Canyon of Heroes in New York City.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Brunson, who will host the season premiere<\/a> of “Saturday Night Live” on Sept. 26, has also cheered on Hargitay for some of her recent performances. Over the summer, he attended her Broadway show \u201cEvery Brilliant Thing,\u201d and last year he went to the premiere of Hargitay\u2019s documentary \u201cMy Mom Jayne\u201d \u2013 for which she earned two 2026 Emmys.<\/p>\n

Hargitay also recently hinted that she might be teaming up with Brunson on screen.<\/p>\n

“I’m hoping that we might \u2014 don’t tell anyone, but \u2014 see him on SVU,” she said during an interview on “TODAY.” <\/a><\/p>\n

Hargitay, during a “TODAY” interview that aired Monday, was shown a video message that Brunson recorded for her<\/a> ahead of her Emmys hosting gig.<\/p>\n

“What’s up Mariska? It’s Jalen here,” Brunson said. “Just wanted to say I’m really excited to see you host the Emmys. It’s such an amazing opportunity for you, so I can’t wait to watch, I can’t wait to see\u2026you’re going to do great. Everyone is rooting for you.”<\/p>\n

“Was that just the G.O.A.T. wishing me good luck?” Hargitay asked TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, he knows a little something about big stages,” Guthrie said.<\/p>\n

“I think he does!” Hargitay said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you\u2019re ready!\u201d Guthrie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready now. I\u2019m just taking it in,\u201d Hargitay said. \u201cI\u2019m gonna play that at my house while I\u2019m getting ready on a loop.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mariska Hargitay got an assist from the point guard of the New York Knicks. Before the actor took…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[110940,9,11,10],"class_list":["post-346914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-emmy-awards","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}