Jalen Brunson, named the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year, showed Ausar Thompson and the Detroit Pistons why one final time in the 2025 NBA playoffs.
Brunson, whose 40 points carried the Knicks to a 116-113 victory in a wild Game 6 over the pesky Pistons on May 1, was asked postgame about his winning 3-point shot over the defense of Thompson after finally ending an extremely competitive series.
After explaining how he created space despite the efforts from the prodigious second-year wing, Brunson was effusive in his praise for Thompson, his new nemesis.
“That dude was tough to play against,” Brunson said at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. “He’s big-time. I told him straight to his face after the series. He made me work, so I have a lot of respect for him.”
Brunson, though, got the last laugh, drilling a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds to play after shaking Thompson near the top of the key and dribbling into a wide open jumper.
“Thompson stumbles and Brunson humbles him,” Clyde Frazier said on the Knicks’ MSG broadcast.
Brunson averaged 31.5 points per game in the series on 24.8 field goal attempts and 43.6% shooting. He never shot better than 50% in any game.
Thompson was fantastic as an individual defender against Brunson in the series, most notably in Game 5 when Brunson scored just 16 points on 4-for-16 shooting in a Pistons upset victory.
But Thompson curiously played just 23 minutes in Game 6, collecting three steals and two blocks to go with 17 points, while Brunson cooked the Pistons for 40 points on 15-for-33 shooting. Only reserve center Paul Reed (eight minutes) played less in Game 6 among the Pistons’ eight-man rotation.
“He’s guarding one of the most difficult matchups in the NBA,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the final shot. “You gotta tip your hat to Brunson. … He’s hard to guard. … How he can generate space at his size is remarkable. I thought Ausar did a great job on him, he just did what he does and made the one more.”
Still, Thompson’s impact was enormous, as he helped the Pistons’ 20-2 surge in the fourth quarter to take a 112-105 lead with 2:35 left. Brunson made just 1 of 11 shots during a stretch from late in the third quarter until late in the fourth.
Thompson poked the ball free from Josh Hart, finished a tough lefty breakaway layup for a 109-105 lead, then raced back down the court and drew an offensive foul on Karl-Anthony Towns, his fifth, and split the free throws.
But Thompson was pulled for a few minutes and re-entered with the Pistons clinging to a 112-110 lead with 83 seconds left, after Brunson scored five straight points. Thompson immediately collected a steal and block, but the Knicks closed on an 11-1 run to stun the Pistons and the crowd.
Asked between Games 1 and 2 about the challenges guarding Brunson, Thompson responded with one word. “None.”
He most likely has a different outlook after getting crossed up on a move that has some comparing the sequence to Michael Jordan’s Game 6 winning shot over Bryon Russell in the 1998 NBA Finals.
Let’s hope we get more of this budding rivalry between the Knicks and Pistons, specifically the Brunson, 28, and Thompson, 22, matchup for years to come.
The NBA needs it.
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