The City is Under New Management

After shooting just 8-of-40 from three-point territory over his final 15 games as a Blazer, Hart has knocked down six of his nine attempts with the Knicks.

Coming into Monday night, the Knicks had lost nine straight games to the Nets. The last time New York beat Brooklyn was January 26, 2020, the day we lost the late, great Kobe Bryant. 

In the nine games in between, some combination of KD, Kyrie and Harden had their way. 

However, all three of those stars are no longer Nets. 

The only All-Star on the court last night was wearing orange and blue. And the best player on the floor, who has been inexplicably snubbed from the ASG, is a Knick as well. And although four of Brooklyn's five starters were acquired via trade last week, the trade deadline addition to make the most significant impact last night had New York on his chest. 

Of all the many changes, by far the biggest difference between the Knicks teams of the past that lost to their little brother across the river, and the squad that beat Brooklyn 110-97 Monday night at MSG, was the person manning the point guard position.

The upgrade from Elfrid Payton and Alec Burks to Jalen Brunson is almost unquantifiable. 

Brunson put on a masterclass performance last night, tallying 40 points (15-of-21 FGs), two rebounds, five assists (vs. zero turnovers) and six 3-pointers in 35 minutes. He is the first Knick ever and the 14th player in the history of the NBA to score 40+ points on over 70% shooting and not commit a single turnover. The only three players to accomplish this feat in the last decade are Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum and LeBron James.

It was also Brunson's second 40-point game this season on 70% shooting or better. Per Knicks PR, he is the first Knick to have two or more such games in a single season since Patrick Ewing in 1990-91.

Although Brunson claims he is unfazed by the league's decision to bypass him for the All-Star game, as I noted over the weekend, he has been an absolute tear of late. The Knicks have played six games since the NBA announced the All-Star reserves on Thursday, February 2nd. In the six contests, Brunson is averaging 32.5 points, 6.3 assists (vs. just 1.2 turnovers), 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 treys while shooting 60.9% from the floor and 55.9% from downtown.  

This month, he's averaging more points than Joel Embiid, averaging more assists than Fred VanVleet and shooting a higher percentage than Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Brunson is playing at an unimaginably high level. 

Yet the player who earned the loudest cheers last night was a dude who arrived in New York just a few days ago.