Jalen Brunson

The shiny-gold cap accompanying his title as the “King of New York” has become a perfect fit on Jalen Brunson’s head, but with the defending champions teetering, 2024-25’s Clutch Player of the Year left it abundantly clear of the other “crown” catching his eye. Unwavering in his goal of delivering the Big Apple’s first NBA title since 1973, Brunson prepares himself for the types of late-game buckets required, first by escaping Al Horford through a series of dribbles, followed by a difficult rainbow pull-up. Now close enough to a 3-1 series lead to metaphorically taste it, Brunson adds to this year’s already-second-to-none late-game scoring collection, hunting out a pick-and-roll before burying a cold-blooded trifecta to put the New York Knicks ahead by 12 in the final two-and-half minutes. It marked merely another footnote in Brunson’s almost-unprecedented playoff run, as he became just NBA history’s second-ever player to record 100+ “clutch points” over his first 10 postseason games. Building a memorable game through elite efficiency overall (14-of-25), from deep (four-of-eight), and from the charity stripe (seven-of-nine), Brunson finished with 39 points, five rebounds, and 12 assists, securing an Eastern Conference Finals appearance for his efforts four days later.