Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, a surefire first ballot Hall-of-Famer in waiting, paid New York Knicks All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson the ultimate compliment after the Knicks took down the Heat in an early season showdown in Miami.
The Knicks, who pulled the trigger on the biggest trade in recent Knicks history this summer, sending beloved forward Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota for the 7-foot superstar Karl-Anthony Towns, have had some early season chemistry concerns as Towns didn’t immediately start filling the stat sheet for his new team.
This was abundantly evident in an early loss to Cleveland in which the big fella took only eight shots, after which Brunson pledged to get his new teammate more shots and the opportunity to have a bigger impact.
As a result, Brunson, who averaged 28.7 points per game last season, scored a mere 22 in the Miami victory, while Towns had 44 points and 13 rebounds.
Brunson shot a poor percentage too, but with his nine assists and just one turnover, Spoelstra didn’t buy the idea that the Heat had limited Brunson’s impact. Instead, Spoelstra paid the point guard the ultimate compliment, saying the team-oriented Brunson had risen to the occasion to make big buckets when the Knicks needed them, but otherwise fulfilled his pledge to make his teammate succeed.
Brunson, Spoelstra said, “was very intentional.”
Spo: “IDK if we held Brunson down 1st half…Well-documented Towns hadn’t gotten going…Brunson said he’s going to take responsibility to get him ball––and he did…V clear they were trying to get him ball & Brunson was facilitating…When he needed to make plays 2H…he was able to” pic.twitter.com/5EQitCTRMB
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) October 31, 2024
Spoelstra essentially said that Brunson did it all, getting his own and giving to others, a key for the famously team-first Heat coach renowned for developing what’s known around the league as selfless “Heat Culture.”
“Brunson mentioned he’s going to take responsibility to get [Towns] ball––and he did,” Spoelstra said. He added that it was “clear they were trying to get him ball and Brunson was facilitating in the first half and when he needed to make plays in the second half — particularly late third and fourth — he was able to do that as well.”