{"id":822858,"date":"2026-05-26T08:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822858\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T08:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:15:25","slug":"jalen-brunson-left-humbled-by-series-mvp-honor-as-knicks-reach-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822858\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson left humbled by series MVP honor as Knicks reach Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CLEVELAND \u2014 Four years later, nobody is questioning that $104 million contract the Knicks gave to Jalen Brunson.<\/p>\n<p>Looking back now, it was a bargain.<\/p>\n<p>Brunson has the Larry Bird Trophy, given to the MVP of the Eastern Conference finals, as proof.<\/p>\n<p>In his fourth postseason as a Knick, Brunson <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/25\/sports\/knicks-end-nba-finals-drought-after-demolishing-cavaliers-to-complete-sweep\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">led the franchise back to the NBA Finals <\/a>for the first time in 27 years, capped by their emphatic series sweep of the Cavaliers on Monday night.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39486178\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/user-expressly-acknowledges-agrees-downloading-128736385.jpg\" alt=\"Jalen Brunson wearing a New York Knicks cap, a gray &quot;NBA Finals&quot; t-shirt, holding the Larry Bird MVP trophy.\" class=\"wp-image-39486178\"  \/> Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe belief that the organization has in me has been amazing, and something I don\u2019t take for granted, and something not a lot of people get the opportunity to do,\u201d Brunson said after notching 15 points and five assists in the 130-93 clincher over the Cavaliers in Game 4. \u201cSo I\u2019m very thankful. It\u2019s an honor to be here in this city for this organization with my teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brunson set the tone in the series opener, exploding for 38 points and rallying the Knicks from a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit. Overall, he averaged 25.5 points and 7.8 assists in the sweep.<\/p>\n<p>Brunson has<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/26\/sports\/why-jalen-brunson-doesnt-have-to-carry-knicks-anymore\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> changed so much for the Knicks<\/a> during a short period. In the 21 years before his arrival, they won just a single playoff series. Since his arrival, they have claimed seven and will pursue their first championship since 1973 starting next week, against either the Spurs or Thunder.<\/p>\n<p>Before the game, coach Mike Brown was asked if Brunson\u2019s leadership reminds him of anyone he had coached, and he didn\u2019t hesitate: Tim Duncan and Stephen Curry.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39486181\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/new-york-knicks-guard-jalen-128733685.jpg\" alt=\"New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson points during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.\" class=\"wp-image-39486181\"  \/>Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) reacts in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tKnicks Merch Shop\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tNew York Post receives revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and when you make a purchase.\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe aura that those guys have, the quiet strength that they have, is unbelievable,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n<p>High praise for the Knicks captain \u2014 praise he has earned since he joined the franchise four years ago this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Four years later, nobody is questioning that $104 million contract the Knicks gave to Jalen Brunson.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":822859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,3128,40142,24114,274250,1260,3579,304733,405,403,3122,5226,5225,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-822858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-inside-the-knicks","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-knick","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-nba-playoffs-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116639892239704177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}