Knicks fans are desperate to win a championship for two reasons: they're dying to end their more than 50-year title drought and badly want to prove Becky Hammon wrong about Jalen Brunson. Unfortunately for New Yorkers, the Spurs are uniquely suited to reinforce the ex-San Antonio assistant's case.
Becky Hammon: [The Knicks] don't have a dude... you got to have a 1A dude."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 21, 2023
Kendrick Perkins: "They do have that dude."
B: "Who?"
K: "Jalen Brunson."
B: "He too small. If your best player is small, you're not winning... Steph Curry is the only dude."pic.twitter.com/XWhJHZXpxT
Hammon's experience as a professional is tremendous. Her resume as a three-time WNBA champion as head coach of the Las Vegas Aces, among several other notable achievements, speaks for itself. Knicks fans don't care about that, though. They took her comments as a personal slight to their organization and have been licking their chops for a chance to tell her she was wrong.
But she wasn't. History can't always tell you who will win an NBA title, but it's been pretty consistent in who won't. Teams led by small guards haven't won very much. Stephen Curry and Isiah Thomas were the only two to pull it off, and Jalen Brunson won't be adding his name to the list because his weaknesses are about to get exposed.
Spurs will attack Brunson every night
One of Coach Mike Brown's biggest problems is going to be trying to figure out how to hide Jalen Brunson from Stephon Castle. Brunson said it himself in his media session ahead of Game 1: Castle is a tenacious defender, and you have to game plan around his abilities on that end. Steph will be physical with JB, but he also has great instincts and the size to bottle up the Knicks star.
The Spurs don't have to change anything in their rotations right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mitch Johnson decided to match Steph's minutes with the 2025 Clutch Player of the Year. He's given Brunson problems in past meetings, even in New York's blowout win over San Antonio in March. The New York point guard had a solid shooting night against everyone except Castle.
Keeping last season's Rookie of the Year out of foul trouble will be key to slowing down the 3x All-Star. He needs to be able to stay attached to Brunson's hip. There are other great defenders on this roster, but JB is crafty. Castle is San Antonio's best man for the job.
Brunson will have to work on both ends of the floor against the Spurs
The Spurs can take advantage of Brunson on the other end of the floor, too. He'll likely start games guarding the spot-up shooters of the team, so Julian Champagnie will get his first shot at him. Now, of course, nobody expects Champ to turn the NBA Finals into his personal mixtape, but he can wear his assignment down with activity.
If he cuts, sets screens, pops or dives hard, and crashes the boards, he'll put additional pressure on Brunson. That goes for whoever the 6'2" defensively challenged scorer is guarding. The Knicks get a mini-win on any extended possession that doesn't require their superstar to defend. Eventually, New York's defense and offensive schemes will break.
They shouldn't be able to sustain their offense without consistent contributions from Brunson as long as the Spurs don't double-team him unnecessarily. Guard him straight up and tire him out on defense. Those will be the keys to shutting him down, winning a championship, and getting Knicks fans off Becky Hammon's back.
