Brunson is strong, but has he reached the ceiling?

After playing 12-of-18 from the field in G5, with 32 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Brunson played another mediocre game in G6, 8-of-18, 19 points and 7 assists.

Carlisle's manoeuvres reached a point of inconsistency in this round, and when Brunson had become accustomed to the physical confrontation that Nesmith gave him, Carlisle sent Nembhard to pester Brunson in G6, and the latter could not completely get rid of it throughout the game.

Four of Brunson's five turnovers were directly attributable to Nembhard, who made as many as six steals throughout the game. This year's playoffs are a good stage to know Nembhard's defensive ability, Brunson faces him with a shooting rate of 38.2% from the field and a three-point shooting rate of 30%; Mitchell was even worse, shooting 23.3 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from three-point range.

Being completely restricted by Nembhard also reflects the shortcomings of Brunson as a player from the side. Height limitations lead to a lack of passing vision, and absolute speed limitations lead to the inability to get rid of strong defenses, and this kind of defense can be done by a lot of people in the Thunder. So if Brunson makes it to the Finals, the defensive environment he faces will only be more terrifying.

Is Brunson strong? Strong, very strong, the league's best key player this season, countless times in critical moments to decide the outcome of the game, both mental attributes and technical ability are the top match, there is one statistic that surprised me.

After playing G6, Brunson's playoff scoring has surpassed Doncic, and they are also the two guards with the most points in the playoffs since 2020, Brunson 1701 points and Doncic 1697 points, of course, Brunson used 67 games, Doncic only 55 games.

Throughout the Eastern Conference finals, Brunson averaged 30.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game, shooting 50% from the field and 35% from three-point range. But there's one more statistic, which is that his overall plus/minus in six games is -26.

Brunson's heads-up is already one of the top in the league, and he has been able to make strong shots on many occasions ignoring defenders and his own height difference, and he doesn't start up as quickly, but he is also very good at finishing against opponents. During his two years in New York, Brunson has become accustomed to contributing high scoring performances under high ball loads.

The question is, in the current basketball era, can Brunson's ball-handling core play or a ball-handling core who doesn't pass so well, really go further? or to the Eastern Conference finals, it is already the limit of Brunson and this Knicks.

Brunson's physical condition, if he is allowed to hold a lot of the ball on the offensive end and consume a lot of physical energy, this will inevitably lead to him becoming a hole on the defensive end, and the Pacers are also very targeted, so they will name Brunson when they have the opportunity. Looking at the entire Eastern Conference finals, Brunson's defensive problems may be even more serious than Downs'.

The Knicks have problems with the change of defense throughout the Eastern Conference finals, and the big and second leaders have different defensive problems, so it also causes the Knicks to basically struggle in the rhythm of the Pacers, OG and Ohashi are already the top defensive resources in the same position, but there is still no way to fill the hole.

In fact, it's not just Brunson, Doncic was also questioned after losing in the Finals last year, whether such a ball-holding style of play has reached the ceiling. Even the Lone Ranger probably thought so, so they traded him.

The last example of a big core with the ball finally winning the championship should be James in 2020. But that year, James's ball holding was different from Doncic's and Harden's ball holding, first of all, James had a top interior line like thick eyebrows, and secondly, James was the core of the ball, and at the same time, his off-ball ability and defense were also online.

James' time with the ball in the past two years has been gradually declining, on the one hand, because of his age, his ability to break through with the ball is declining; On the one hand, it is also delegating power to thick eyebrows and Reeves. After Doncic's arrival, James played more off-ball, and the number of breakthroughs with the ball was very rare.

Compared with Harden and Doncic, Brunson's physical condition is a natural disadvantage, he does not have master-level passing ability, and can only score more points through his own offense, but he can't carry it for too long, often disappearing in the whole quarter, and allocating more physical energy to the last quarter.

The Knicks' starting configuration is already considered top-level, both forwards are top tool men, and Towns is a top secondary attacker, but the problem is that Towns is a big man and can't get the ball often, and many games in the regular season have been reduced to tool men under Brunson's ball-holding system.

The incompatibility between Downs and Brunson is already a fact, and Thibodeau finally had to take the two apart and use them, so there is a Jedi counterattack in the G3 stub. When Downs and Brunson play together, it would be a bit of a waste to have Downs just play the role of "Bosh."

Thibodeau was really blown out by Carlisle in this series, and when he had to stretch the rotation, he was actually using his weaknesses against the Pacers' strengths. Of course, the fundamental reason is that the Knicks are not capable of making the Pacers tighten the rotation, in other words, the starters are not playing well enough.

Of course, the loss of the first-round series did not directly knock the Knicks off the altar, and their victory in the Eastern Conference semifinals of the Celtics was also commendable. There are so many factors that can determine the outcome of a series, and the scene like Smith's six consecutive three-pointers in the final quarter of the Eastern Conference G1 may not be repeated once in decades.

Since '22, all teams that have lost in the Eastern Conference finals have reached the finals the following year. If the Knicks want to continue this pattern, they can either replace Thibodeau, or find a new offensive system, and let Brunson play alone, which seems to have reached the ceiling at the moment, and there is no way to go further.