Knicks staring down inconvenient Jalen Brunson truth in NBA Finals vs. Spurs

Jalen Brunson is the engine behind the New York Knicks’ success and the main reason his team currently leads the San Antonio Spurs 2-1 in the 2026 NBA Finals. Despite losing Game 3 in Madison Square Garden on Monday night, the Knicks are still in the driver’s seat in the series and have a perfect opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead before heading back to San Antonio for Game 5.

However, this NBA Finals series can be broken down in many different ways, especially when diving into the statistics.

Brunson has scored at least 20 points in each of the first three games of the series, including two 30-point games. His 32 points in Game 3 were the most he’s scored against the Spurs so far, yet the Knicks fell on their home floor and missed a prime opportunity to take a 3-0 lead.

By no means can one point to Brunson and say he was the reason the Knicks lost at home or why New York has struggled at times, but then again, there are some glaring weaknesses that have stood out for the star point guard.

More specifically, the Spurs have seemed to find a way to attack Brunson and create opportunities to capitalize on his mistakes.

The good with the bad

Through three games, only Victor Wembanyama has more points than Brunson in the 2026 NBA Finals. And that is not saying much, as Wemby has scored 87 total points compared to Brunson’s 82.

Brunson has made 30 shots through three games, the most of any player in the series, and his late-game heroics in San Antonio pushed the Knicks to an early 2-0 lead. No team in NBA Finals history that went on to win the first two games on the road has ever lost the series, so history is certainly on the side of Brunson and New York.

With this said, as much good as Brunson has done for the Knicks, he has also been one of the main reasons why the Spurs have kept things close in the series.

Heading into Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Brunson is shooting just 37 percent from the floor (30-of-81), and his total assists (13) equal his total turnovers (13) so far. Not to mention, Brunson’s plus-minus in the series is -13, the fourth-worst mark out of any Knicks players who have stepped foot on the court against the Spurs.

Only OG Anunoby (-18) has a worse plus-minus among the Knicks’ starters.

After finishing Game 1 at +6 following his fourth-quarter shot-making, Brunson was -10 in Game 2, followed by -9 on Monday night in New York.

The Spurs are finding success pressuring Brunson into risky passes, which have led to some turnovers, and they have been seeking mismatches on him defensively. Specifically, the Spurs have targeted Brunson by driving and attacking the paint, leading to reach-in and body fouls by the Knicks’ guard.

So, what needs to change for the Knicks?

Brunson may be at -13 for the series so far, but nothing should change whatsoever with his course of attack on offense. The Knicks need their star being aggressive and searching for scoring opportunities if they are to potentially win a title. Shooting 37 percent from the floor should be overlooked, especially considering Brunson’s fourth-quarter performances.

But defensively, the Knicks need to do a better job of avoiding Brunson being picked on when it comes to easy switches on the perimeter, since having five fouls played a role in the Spurs’ win.

As this series now shifts to an all-important Game 4 in Madison Square Garden, Brunson and the Knicks are already aiming to make key adjustments.

Knicks, Jalen Brunson’s adjustments before Game 4

After their Game 3 loss, the Knicks’ foul trouble was a major topic of discussion, so much so that Mike Brown made it a point of emphasis to put pressure on the league by saying there was a major gap in the free throws between the two teams.

“I never thought I would be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight. I don’t think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to the free throw attempts,” Brown said on Monday night. “San Antonio is a great team. They are a great team, okay. It’s going to lower our odds big time, big time, if we play Game 4 and in the second half, they get 24 free throw attempts to our eight.

“Maybe we were fouling, but they fouled, too.”

This is obviously the biggest change that the Knicks will look to make in Game 4, as Brunson and others can’t get in foul trouble if they are to take advantage of their early 2-0 start and not just surrender it back to the Spurs.

For Brunson specifically, he is focused on the fouls, as well as taking care of the basketball.

“I think we turned the ball over a lot, first and foremost, and also we were fouling a lot and put them at the line about 30 times,” Brunson said. “With our live-ball turnovers, (we) got them out in transition. They were capitalizing off of those. So we were definitely fouling a lot.”

Although the Knicks can’t control the fouls being called by the officials, they can put themselves in better positions to avoid fouls. And as Brunson stated, the live-ball turnovers were a big problem for the Knicks.

New York turned the ball over 13 times in Game 3, which isn’t terrible, but this directly resulted in 21 points for the Spurs, which is a concern.

Finding ways to slow the game down to their pace and not let the Spurs’ relentless defensive pressure impact them will be essential for the Knicks in Game 4, especially with pressure now shifting back to them.

The biggest thing for the Knicks, as Brunson concluded his postgame thoughts with, is to simply learn and adapt. The Knicks had not lost a game since April 23 in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, so perhaps this is what this team needed in order to regroup and become the champions they know they can be.

“I think win or lose as a team, our mindset is always getting better the next day. So we’ve done our best to try to learn from wins over the past couple weeks. But now we have to learn from a loss. But I think the most important thing is that we are going to learn regardless, because we knew there were things that we were going to have to improve on going into next game.

“So mindset stays the same.”

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