Knicks UNLEASHED

Jalen Brunson’s MVP STATEMENT! Knicks Take Down Raptors to Reach NBA Cup Semis

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Jalen Brunson just sent a loud-and-clear MVP message — and the New York Knicks are heading to the NBA Cup Semifinals.

In this episode of Knicks Unleashed, we break down the Knicks’ big win over the Toronto Raptors and the superstar-level performance from Brunson that’s pushing him deeper into the MVP race. From his elite shot creation to his leadership in clutch moments, this was the kind of game that defines a season.

We dive into:
 🏀 Brunson’s MVP case — how real is it now?
 🔥 The turning points in the Knicks’ win over Toronto
 📈 Why the Knicks are built for tournament play
 🧱 Key contributions beyond Brunson
 🚀 What this victory means heading into the NBA Cup Semifinals

If you bleed orange and blue or just love high-level basketball talk, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Subscribe, rate, and join us for the ride — this Knicks season is just getting started.

#knicks #nyknicks #nba

SPEAKER_00:

Go, New York, go, New York, go. That's all I can think about last night after that 117 101 win over the Toronto Raptors. Oh, the Knicks, they move on to the semifinal game for the NBA Cup against that Volted Orlando Magic team on Saturday. I mentioned this before and I mentioned it over and over again, and I've been mentioning ad nauseum. I've said it before. The team that is going to be the bugaboo for the Knicks, that's going to be not only in the way for their championship aspirations, now their NBA Cup aspirations, is going to be the Orlando Magic. I could see it. I could, you could smell it. I knew, I knew it. And once again, the Knicks on Saturday playing the Orlando Magic in a similar single elimination game to see who moves on to the NBA Cup Finals. The NBA Cup is such a fucking joke. Listen, I want the Knicks to win the Cup. Because you know, while while it's a championship banner, it would be a good moment for this team this year because this is the window. To me, this is the championship window. This is the window we push forward. Next year, that window could still be cracked open. But right now, with this team, without Giannis, without any trades, this is the window of opportunity. Miles McBride is still out and is going to be out for a little while. Looks like what they're calling a high ankle sprain. They really haven't released any information in regards to the M, uh, excuse me, the MRI. But like I said, the Knicks drop the undermand, the very fragile Toronto Raptors, 107, one, excuse me, 117-101. Brunson, man. I gotta give, I have to be, I have to have, I have to pontificate a moment about Jalen Brunson. When the Knicks initially signed Brunson, all I could think about was that playoff series with him and Donovan Mitchell, where it was completely the OLA defense on both ends. Both guys were scoring drop and 40 a game back to back. And that's all I could think about when they signed Brunson to that contract. That Brunson really had not reached superstar level, but they had potential written all over him. You could see it. But he was a star that played in Villnova, of course, and he wanted to come to New York. And we dropped without thinking about it, in some regards, my in my mind, the not the Knicks dropped that big amount of money on this guy who hadn't had that all-star season yet, but he was, and I keep going off of former Knicks playoff performers for other teams that the Knicks, I'm not looking at you, Isaiah Thomas, went and gave huge contracts to that fizzled out. But Brunson has come here, the consummate professional, the MVP, the franchise changer. And I just I just have to give him his 100% kudos. I love Jalen Brunson. During that first season here in New York, I mean, I got all Jalen Brunson jerseys, I got Jalen Brunson shirts, I got everything. Because it was an excitement, and he's bringing back the excitement. I talk about at times how he brought back the excitement to the garden like Bernard King did during that season and a half, where he was probably, if not one of the best or the best player in the NBA in reference to scoring. And he was the singular engine that drove the Knicks until that devastating knee injury, and we never really got to see what the full potential could have been with Patrick Ewing. But Brunson is just being Brunson. MVP 13 for 19 last night, dissected that defense. You could see the the and I and like I said, you may you may dislike Carl Anthony Towns, but the Knicks are a better team when Carl Anthony Towns is in the middle. He is now he was getting off smooth jumpers. He was a smooth criminal last night, Brunson. But there is a difference when he has and they play with a continuity, him and Kat, that, like I've said this before, and outside of OKC, the Knicks starting five, one healthy, are probably the best starting five in the league outside of OKC. And again, it showed it last night. Now it got it got like all Knicks games, it got ugly early. It was a slop fest in that first quarter. Seven turnovers led to 12 Raptor points. The Toronto took that uh opening quarter league. What was it, 39-35? And that was despite Brunson dropping 20 of the 39 in the first nine minutes. But then, as always with Disney team, and I and I they have to figure this out. They they flipped the switch, they turned up that defensive intensity that was there with Tom Thibodeau, dominated the second quarter, dominated to take a 17-point lead going into the break. It was just a moment again that you you watched my mind, not the MVP candidate. The MVP right now, if it was the season was end right now, I gotta give Brunson the MVP. Now, of course, you could say that Toronto was missing RJ Barrett with the knee injury amount quickly, who was out, it was a late scratch with an illness. But we know we didn't have McBride. And like I said, sources are saying now it's gonna be a high ankle, it's a high ankle sprain. And it's it's one of those things that um, like I said, I I want to go to Vegas, I want to fight for the cup, but if we would have lost, we would have gone home for about a week with just one game in between, which would have been perfect. But you know what? The Knicks earned prize money for qualifying the semis. They collected about$100,000 per player, which is nice for the guys at the bench. And uh, you know, it's it's it's it's one of those things. It's it's more, I think it's just more bragging rights, and I think that's the way we have to look at this. But like I said, last night was just it again, it was one of those moments you you had the efficient play, and I love because Josh Hart to me has been nothing just but efficient, and I think that's the way you look at it. And ever since, you know, listen, he's coming back, he's still trying to feel his way with that finger injury, that surgery. He, you know, he he's got that, you know, he's gotta get the feel back, but all of a sudden, it looks like he's starting to get his shooting field back a little bit when he went eight for 11 last night, played solid defense like he always does. I love I you know what's funny. I I always talk about I have a mad crush on Josh Hart. I'm not gonna lie to you. Because the guy just plays, that's all he does. What does he do? I play third, I'll play 36 minutes, go eight for 11, four for seven for three, grab six rebounds, give out four assists, and have two steals and a partridge and a pear tree. The same thing with bridges. All bridges does. You know, I'm gonna put up my six team, give you five rebounds, six assists, two, I'm gonna add two steals and a block, and I'm just gonna combine that play with Brunson. OG Ananobi. Listen, oh OG Ananobi and Kat may be the sacrificial lambs on a Giannis deal, unless they're gonna wait till February, and then they're like I said, then you can move on from that Malik Bridges contract. But it's, you know, OG. OG is uh, like I said, the Knicks are a different team with the the defense intensity when needed is there when OG Ananobi is on the floor. While he did not have a great shooting night at four for 11 for 13 points, he did grab six boards, have an assist and two steals and two blocks as well. The bench, the bench was not needed as much as you know normally is. You got you got substantial minutes from Jordan Clarkson and Mitchell Robinson, except Mitchell Robinson put up basically only two points in 16 minutes, did grab five rebounds with four assists. Uh Jordan Clarkson. Jordan Clarkson had you know, Jordan Clarkson still is still looking for his rhythm. He did play 26 minutes, have 12 points, have three rebounds, but he's still got to find that offensive rhythm. He's got to feel, he's gotta feel he's gotta do the happy dance. He's gotta feel the flow. But you have a bunch, you know like I said, we we went um we went into this game. And like I said, the Raptors to me are are a paper, watch this, are a paper raptor, not a paper line. They are 15 and 11. They are eight and six at home, but the Knicks did take this one in Toronto. I hate that fucking Toronto hardcore. I'm excuse me, home court. I hate that fucking red. It's like Boise State in college football. I can't stand watching the game with that fucking blue. But I but I I I I digress. Team effort. Team effort in regards to the starting five, I'll say. We're gonna have to figure out this bench with um, we're gonna figure out this bench with Miles out. I wonder if we can make a call over to Malcolm Brogdon. Listen, I'll be like Malcolm, listen, bro. Tillandra Shamick comes back. Do you want to play a little bit? I mean, it's okay. I think people would think I'm nuts. And I probably am a little crazy. I'm not crazy, you're crazy. But Ben Simmons, the former Sixer, former net, current nut job, to me makes so much sense for this Knicks team. Yeah, I need a scorer off the bench, but I also need a defensive presence and I need a facilitator. Tyler's not gonna give you much offensively. I'm not I'm not enthused with his game in regards to defensively either. But Ben Simmons, if Ben, and Ben Simmons has already come out and said that he would play for free in the NBA if the Sixers took him back. But it just Ben Simmons would just make so much sense for this team. Yeah, he's a fucking nutcase. You can keep him at the end of the bench. You give him veteran, you give him a veteran contract, veteran minimum contract, and if he flames that you just fucking get rid of him. But he's that big body, he could play the wing, he could bring up the ball. He's a he is still a smooth passer. This this kid, for for all the angst that he has in reference to scoring, does do so many other things well. And it would it would just make a it would just make a lot of sense. And I think he's only 29 years old. Again, reclamation project. But he is a guy that, like I said, if you take the scoring away from him, take away that pressure. I mean, he's dropped in scoring from 18, where he had 15, then he had 16 points, 16 points, 14 points, and then he fell off the fucking planet after that back injury with 6, 6, 5, 6, and 2. I don't need him to score. I need him to do the things that he does, his total rebounds, even when he wasn't playing well, 7.9, 6.3, 7.8. His steals are still over two. His assists, even on the poor seasons, even Brooklyn was almost at seven. That's all I need. I need you to play, I need you for 15 fucking minutes. Screw your crazy ass head on. I need you for 15 fucking minutes a night, maybe 12, play some D, be the facilitator, grab some rebounds, and be that stopper. If you put up three points a game, I don't fucking care. Because hopefully Miles McBride will come back. It just makes sense. Oh, we're gonna start doing. I was I wasn't hoping, but I was looking for the Knicks to have almost a week off because I'm trying to get everything set up to do on camera shit. And we're we're gonna we're gonna push, we're really gonna start pushing this out. We're gonna start pushing this channel out. My Nick, my giant channel, of course, is New York Giant Straight Talk. I'm still doing that through the end of the season, but I'm retiring from that in February to focus solely on doing Nick stuff. So like, subscribe, set notifications to all notifications so you get all notifications when videos come out. Tell a friend, phone a friend, do what you gotta do. This is Nick's Unleashed. I'm Tim, and I'm out of here.