Jalen Brunson has run more miles than ANYONE in the NBA semifinals… can he keep the Knicks alive?

Jalen Brunson’s 6-foot-2 frame doesn’t quite illustrate the towering presence he has for the New York Knicks as the franchise looks to rescue the Eastern Conference semifinals series in a do-or-die Game 6 in Miami tonight. 

Almost 12 months on from signing a four-year, $104million deal with the Knicks – then-considered an overspend by some – Brunson is unquestionably the lightning rod for New York’s hopes of playoff progression.

The braided Brunson wasn’t interested in adulation in the moments following the Game 5 win at the Garden, nor in front of the media during his postgame press conference. His virtuoso performance 38-point, nine-rebound, seven-assist night kept the Knicks’ season alive – for another four quarters at least.

Brunson played every second of the 112-103 win Wednesday and was magical, alongside Julius Randle and R.J. Barrett, as New York’s three-headed monster combined for 88 points.

‘Nothing was said at all,’ Brunson said when asked if there was discussion with coach Tom Thibodeau about playing the entirety of Game 5. ‘Whatever it takes. [I] just tried to do everything I could to win. We did that, now it’s on to Game 6.’ 

Jalen Brunson has been the answer to the prayers of long-suffering Knicks fans this season

The 26-year-old maintains a relatively low profile and is engaged to his childhood sweetheart

Alongside Brunson in Miami will be his father, Rick, a former Knicks player who is now an assistant on the team. He was hired by New York in June 2022 – a month prior to Brunson’s agreed move.

Brunson – and Knicks teammate Quentin Grimes – played a breathless 48 minutes on Wednesday but the Heat can’t bank on hopes he’ll have wilted by the time he takes to the court on Friday night.

‘The one thing I obsess over is just my work ethic,’ he told SLAM in March. ‘If I’m always working, I’m always getting prepared, I will never have to just get ready. 

‘Don’t need to get ready when you stay ready.’ 

Brunson’s 48-minute game was the first this playoff series. Of active players in the NBA, Kevin Durant has played the most 48+ minute games with 13. He is trailed by LeBron James (12), Jimmy Butler (8) and Rajon Rondo (5), according to Statmuse. Since the NBA season began, on 21 occasions a player was on the court for 48 minutes or more. 

It is not uncommon in the playoffs as series’ get down the stretch and, of course, head to overtime. Games like Friday are what Brunson stays ready for. 

He is averaging 41.9 minutes (41.9) per game in the semifinals – ahead of Durant on 41.1 – and sits equal-fourth among average minutes since the playoffs began (39.8). 

The 26-year-old has run 15.30 miles, at an average 3.07 miles per game in the semifinals — more than any other player in the Association. 

New York survived its first elimination game, but need to win a second tonight to stay alive

Jalen Brunson has led the charge for the New York Knicks throughout its postseason run

Brunson and his fiancée – Ali Marks – have been dating since the pair were in high school  

Given his role as New York’s playmaker, Brunson doesn’t have hold the average speed of his more explosive teammates. He ranks fifth on the Knicks and 12th overall between Knicks and Heat players, moving at 4.07 mph. 

Brunson is swift enough, as evidenced in his ability to wrestle free of the clutches of Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry Wednesday night, but athleticism has never been his greatest gift. 

”’How can I be creative? How can I get my opponents off balance?,”’ Brunson would often think when up against more genetically gifted opponents. ‘How can I use my smarts versus their athleticism? I’ve always been that way and it’s worked. It’s gotten me here.’

That ‘here’, for him, is being the face of the New York Knicks franchise and the ushering in of a potential new dawn. 

Brunson’s body may be the vessel for which he has wowed Knicks fans throughout his first season on the team but it is his mind – evidenced in his postgame attitude – which has propelled him to this point, and soon beyond his current status.

‘Whenever I step on the court, I have to be the best player I can be. And then we go back and watch [film] and [it’s like], “How can I improve?” And that’s just been my mindset since I can remember.’

Such tenacity comes watching his father for most of his nine-year professional career. Rick Brunson also played for the Trail Blazers, Celtics, Bulls, Raptors, Clippers, Sonics and Rockets, in addition to his time at the Knicks from 1999-2000. 

His move to the Knicks as a coach, a month before Jalen’s arrival, certainly helped pave the way to the Big Apple. 

Brunson may have joined the Knicks amid criticism of his deal, but they have been silenced

Prior to agreeing a four-year, $104million deal with Knicks, Brunson played five years in Dallas

Brunson’s father, Rick, previously played for the Knicks and is now an assistant coach for NY

‘[He] never had a guaranteed contract,’ Brunson told SLAM of his father. ‘I’m fortunate to be guaranteed four years. If I could work half as hard… I have to do something to get better, every day.’

By no means is Brunson the flashiest guard in the game, it simply isn’t how he operates, despite existing as the poster-boy for one of the NBA’s blue-blood franchises. Routine is where he lives and thrives. 

‘I’m one of those guys that if you find a good restaurant, I could eat at that restaurant every time we go out,’ Brunson told SLAM last year while still a Dallas Maverick. ‘I think that gets your mind right. 

‘I don’t run any errands on game day. Sometimes I’ll stop and get a tea on the way to games, but I’m not trying to do anything to make me not think about being ready for the game. If I’m in that routine, I’m not thinking about anything. My mind is just, like, free.’ 

Speaking to Infatuation, Brunson revealed some of his favorite restaurants in Manhattan, often spending time in Midtown for a postgame meal at the likes of Quality Italian and Sugarfish.

Brunson’s lowkey lifestyle may be helped by stability off-the-court in the form of his fiancée, Ali Marks. The pair became engaged in 2022, with Brunson announcing the news to social media in September. 

The Knicks star got down on one knee inside the high school sweethearts’ old gymnasium at Stevenson High in Illinois. 

Brunson became a legend during his three seasons at Villanova, twice winning the NCAA title

The 26-year-old proposed to his then-longtime girlfriend at the high school where they met

He left the Mavericks after a career-best season, joining the Knicks in a move which cost them a 2025 second-round draft pick after the NBA found them guilty of tampering. 

The point guard was beginning to establish himself as an up-and-coming star in Dallas before taking his talents to New York. Marc Cuban’s team drafted Brunson with the 33rd overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft after a stellar career at Villanova. 

A five-star recruit in high school, Brunson committed to the Pennsylvania school and became a two-time national champion, and college player of the year in 2018. Such was his impact in Villanova, Brunson’s No. 1 jersey was retired in February. Sporting News went as far as to name Brunson the college basketball player of the decade in 2019.

Five years on from his most recent championship, Brunson remains in the hunt for the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy. Whether he has another 48 minutes – or 38/9/7 performance – left to keep them in it, only he knows.