Player Spotlight: Jalen Brunson's 0-3 Start, by the Numbers

Quick answer: Jalen Brunson is leading the 0-3 Knicks at 22.7 points a game, but he's shooting 39.1% from the field, 26.7% from three and 70.0% at the line, all well below last season's 46.7/36.9/84.1. He's taken the blame himself. I think the slump is real but fixable, and the fix runs through Cat and the wings as much as through Brunson. First chance: the 3-0 Pistons tonight at the Garden.

Key stats (three games, per the ESPN box scores)

• Scoring: 68 points, 22.7 a game, in 34.7 minutes a night.
• Shooting: 25-of-64 from the field (39.1%), 4-of-15 from three (26.7%), 14-of-20 at the line (70.0%).
• Twos: 21-of-49 (42.9%).
• Playmaking: 11 assists (3.7 a game) against 8 turnovers.
• Game by game: 21 points on 6-of-19 vs. Philly, 19 on 7-of-17 at Boston, 28 on 12-of-28 vs. Orlando.
• Fourth quarters: 15 points total across the three games (2, 4 and 9), per ESPN play-by-play.
• Shot share: Brunson has taken 64 of the team's 267 shots (24.0%). Cat has taken 37 and made 23 (62.2%).
• Last season: 46.7% from the field, 36.9% from three, 84.1% at the line, per theScore.

My gut reaction

This is the guy who just won Finals MVP in June. I watched him carry us past the Spurs. So seeing him go 6-of-19 in the opener and 1-of-7 from deep against Orlando? That hurts.

But here's the thing. He's not hiding from it.

He's owning it

After Sunday's 111-102 loss to the Magic, Brunson said "everything falls on my shoulders," per ESPN's Vincent Goodwill (via theScore). He added: "I just got to be a better leader when it comes to that... it's organization on my part."

He was even more specific with SNY, per Sporting News: "Poor decision-making by me late in the game. The ball's not falling in for us."

That's the right answer from your captain. Now the box score has to back it up.

Where the misses are coming from

The three-point number jumps off the page. Brunson is 4-of-15 from deep, and that's the biggest gap from last season's 36.9%. He's still getting to his spots inside the arc at 42.9% on twos, which isn't vintage Brunson, but it's not a disaster.

The free throws worry me a little more. He went 8-of-8 in the opener, then 6-of-12 in the two games since. Brunson doesn't miss free throws like that. A 70.0% start feels like rhythm, not a real decline.

And remember, this is a guy coming off July wrist surgery. He was cleared for camp with no restrictions, but three games in, the touch hasn't fully shown up yet.

The fourth quarter is the part that stings

Fifteen fourth-quarter points in three games isn't the closer we know. He had two in the opener and four in Boston. He found it a bit more on Sunday with nine, but Orlando still won the fourth 40-27.

That's exactly what he meant by late-game decisions. When the shots aren't falling, the answer can't be more tough isolation looks.

Cat at the five has to be part of the fix

This is where my lens comes in. I love the five-out look with Karl-Anthony Towns at the five, and right now Cat is the most efficient scorer on the floor at 62.2%. Brunson has taken 27 more shots than him.

The Brunson-Cat two-man game is our best weapon. Get Cat the ball on the pick-and-pop, let him draw a big out to the arc, and Brunson gets the lane he thrives in. That balances the paint and the threes, which is how we won it all last season.

The wings have to carry some weight too

Brunson is 6-foot-2, and when he's the only one creating, defenses load up on him. That's why I keep saying we need size and shot-making on the wings. Mikal Bridges is 0-of-10 from three through three games. I still want him and OG Anunoby together on the wings, but Mikal knocking down a few early would open the whole floor for Brunson.

The verdict

Brunson's start is a shooting slump, not a red flag. The volume is there, the accountability is there, and the misses are the kind that come back. What has to change is how much of the offense runs through him alone.

Tonight's test is the 3-0 Pistons at 8 PM ET (7 PM CT) on NBC, per ESPN. Cade Cunningham comes in at 21.3 points and 8.0 assists a game. Jalen Duren is out with a right hamstring strain, and Ausar Thompson is questionable with a right ankle sprain, per the NBA's injury report. For our side, Jose Alvarado is out with a left ankle sprain.

If Brunson gets the first win of the season started, I want to see it happen with Cat touching the ball late.

For the full three-game picture, read 0-3 by the Numbers: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-0-3-by-the-numbers-where-the-points-went. For Sunday's loss: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-magic-recap-wagner-fourth-quarter-0-3-start. For the wrist: https://knicks365.com/blog/jalen-brunson-cleared-training-camp-offseason-wrist-surgery. And for why the Cat pairing works: https://knicks365.com/blog/jalen-brunson-karl-anthony-towns-two-man-game-knicks-offense

Cover photo: Jalen Brunson. Photo: Erik Drost / CC BY 2.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jalen_Brunson.jpg (license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)