Latest / Bleacher Report / Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart Talk Game 2 Comeback to Go Up 2-0 vs. Celtics _ 2025 NBA Playoffs

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Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart Talk Game 2 Comeback to Go Up 2-0 vs. Celtics _ 2025 NBA Playoffs · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hand down, just.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Down by twenty games on call.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Downs like one again today?
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Is that game one?
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: To be confident.
• 0:16
  Speaker 4: That this is no.
• 0:20
  Speaker 5: Uh yeah, just playing through the final whistle can't really
• 0:28
  Speaker 5: explain it, but we just gotta give each other confidence.
• 0:31
  Speaker 5: We're gonna go through stretches like that and just keep fighting,
• 0:33
  Speaker 5: keep believing.
• 0:36
  Speaker 6: Jerylyn, just walk me through your mentality in these final
• 0:40
  Speaker 6: kind of plays the way that you had on Monday
• 0:42
  Speaker 6: and then in these two plays in the final minute
• 0:44
  Speaker 6: today for you, Uh, mentally, what's how How have you
• 0:48
  Speaker 6: been so mentally strong and tough to be able to
• 0:51
  Speaker 6: come through in those moments even if you struggled in
• 0:53
  Speaker 6: the first half of both games.
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it just it's it's a focus that I need
• 1:00
  Speaker 5: to have at that moment. You can't really worry about
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: what happened previously in the game. It's all about just
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: focusing and having a clear mind, just trying to win
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: the game. That's just my mindset and wouldn't I wouldn't
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: be that way without my teammates.
• 1:19
  Speaker 7: For both of you.
• 1:20
  Speaker 8: Tips got up here and said people always like to
• 1:22
  Speaker 8: talk about offensive runs, but there can be defensive runs
• 1:25
  Speaker 8: and rebounding runs, and he mentioned he mentioned Josh Grevin
• 1:31
  Speaker 8: a couple boards there in a row. How important is
• 1:34
  Speaker 8: that those things when the shots aren't falling to just
• 1:37
  Speaker 8: do everything else and do it at a high level.
• 1:40
  Speaker 8: And does that turn into the offense getting to where
• 1:43
  Speaker 8: it needs to be?
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 1:49
  Speaker 7: I think so.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Now, when you're not making shots, you gotta find ways
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: to impact the game in a positive way. And you
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: know that could be an offensive bound kick out for
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: another opportunity, a defensive steal to get you out in
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: transition and on the break and get an easy bucket,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: you know, so and and those things are momentum place
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: and you know, they really compound and they inspire your teammates.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: So you know, that's something that we all try to do.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: And you know, we know when it gets close in
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the end of the game. You know, so one possession game,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: we're very comfortable because we got captain clutch.
• 2:29
  Speaker 7: How big is for you guys to go back home with?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: And what came you talking about Colin Town's performance?
• 2:37
  Speaker 7: I mean it's very important going home.
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: I realized an opportunity that we have and we just
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: got to make sure we're still locked in, no real
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: close to being done.
• 2:51
  Speaker 7: Making sure our mindset is the same.
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: And I mean, Kat, just the way you start out
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: the game and that it was great for us, and uh,
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: just the way he's been now throughout the entire season,
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: and he's been one of the best teammates we have,
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: and the way he gives us energy and the way
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: he goes to get three bounds and what he does
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: that's doesn't go out noticed and he just this is
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: the way he's been.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: I thought you were tweeting, so I kept refreshing.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Now I was trying to order some Uber eats.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: The Uh, you guys both talked before this season about
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: acquiring McKellen and and Og specifically because of the Boston element,
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: because of their wings. How about the way that those
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: two guys have been able to hold Brown and Tatum
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: in the first two games of the series, and how
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: important has that been.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I think it's been huge. We give obviously Og a
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: tremendous about a credit played huge for us last game.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: This game offensively really cared us last game along with
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: JB and and Cal. Now, you can't say enough the
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: his toughness and his great his mentality. I think he
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: ended up with like with fourteen points. I think he
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: went into the fourth with no points and fourth quarter
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: he made a huge play for us offensively to keep
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: us in the game and defensively. You know, he has
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the ability to change the whole course of a game.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: And you give him credit because even when his shots
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: not falling, he's making you know, huge plays. Uh, the
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: impact winning.
• 4:28
  Speaker 7: Josh.
• 4:28
  Speaker 9: I think they they missed fourteen straight shot attempts in
• 4:31
  Speaker 9: the fourth quarter. You know, obviously they kind of unraveled
• 4:34
  Speaker 9: in the first game as well. Can you sense a
• 4:37
  Speaker 9: team unraveling on the court, or you know, a team
• 4:39
  Speaker 9: that's on the rope sort of that that's kind of
• 4:40
  Speaker 9: ready to take a run on.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Now. Honestly, to be realistic with you, like that doesn't
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: come into mind. Our biggest thing is like, especially when
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: we go on to those runs, it's like, all, let's get
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: a stop, we get a stop, let's get another stop,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: let's get another stop. And like I said, we got
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: guys a score in a ball and you know, when
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: we're down that that much. The only thing we're thinking
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: about it like, let's let's get this to a one
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: possession game. Towards the end of the game, and like
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: I said, I feel like our defensive intensity picked up
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter, you know, and now we gotta
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: learn from it and Saturday put together, you know, a
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: full game.
• 5:24
  Speaker 8: Michael has kind of conquered adversity all season long. He struggled,
• 5:28
  Speaker 8: admittedly to start the year, and then he puts up
• 5:30
  Speaker 8: forty on Christmas the weirdness in Portland, hits the game winner,
• 5:35
  Speaker 8: and then obviously, like you said, didn't score until the
• 5:37
  Speaker 8: fourth tonight. Is the two that know him the longest.
• 5:41
  Speaker 8: What is it about him that allows him to kind
• 5:43
  Speaker 8: of rise to those moments or not be too shaken
• 5:47
  Speaker 8: up by what's the outside noise or what's going around
• 5:49
  Speaker 8: or has there been a process for him learning to
• 5:51
  Speaker 8: do that too.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: I think it's it's been It's been like that, nah,
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: just going back to our days in college, just the
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: way that we practiced and were prepared for games.
• 6:05
  Speaker 7: It was more mental than anything.
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: And so when you get to the real life or
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: the real game situations, you practice it, you've been prepared
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: for it.
• 6:14
  Speaker 7: You just you've been through moments like that.
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: And so I think when you're when you do that
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: at at a young age, and you you have that
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: in your repertoire and you go into your professional career
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: and you just have that and like in your back pocket,
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: like you you've went through it, and so he has
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: the ability to block out the noise. And like I said,
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: no matter what happens, we're gonna be together as a
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: team and we're gonna have each other's back regardless, And
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: doesn't matter what a single person or us collector if
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: you're going through free the.
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: One of you.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: There was so many questions people talking about the makeup
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: of last year's team compared to this year's team. What
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: you guys have done here? Five straight road winds in
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: the playoffs, coming back from twenty down every night? Have
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: those been put to bed by you guys?
• 7:01
  Speaker 7: What's been put to bed? What's sorry?
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Just the people who said that maybe this team wasn't
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: as tough as last year's team.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: Or I mean, this team is different from last year's team,
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: nothing wrong with that.
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: We gotta find it. We just gotta find a way
• 7:14
  Speaker 7: with this year.
• 7:15
  Speaker 10: Asked a couple guys in the locker room, same question,
• 7:18
  Speaker 10: and ask you guys, you think you need to spot
• 7:19
  Speaker 10: them twenty points from opening to to be able to
• 7:22
  Speaker 10: play a best basketball or what do you what do
• 7:24
  Speaker 10: you attribute the ability to come back from behind like
• 7:27
  Speaker 10: that too.
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: I would prefer not to. But we need to start
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: the game a lot better sustain how we play. I
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: think the first quarter of Game one we played decent.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: Then we had a drought, but we got to find
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: a way to limit their runs. And now they're gonna
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: go and runs. Third great team and they can shoot
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: the ball and they can make plays for each other
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: like no other. But we gotta just find a way
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: to limit their runs and so not get in a
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: hale like that.
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: How would you describe how would you describe just.
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: What this team is capable of. I know you're you're
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: trying to stay even keeled and move on to the
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: next game, but what you've done these past two nights
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: is pretty rare.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I don't think we even know we we're capable of.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: I think we have to continue to build. I think
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: we have to put together a full game, and I
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: think that's something that we haven't done. Uh, during the
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: course of the playoffs, you know, we got leads, and
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: we surrendered leads, and then we came back from big leads.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: So we got to figure out a way to put
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: together a complete game. And then that can you know,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: answer some of those questions. But for us, it's just
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: about continuing.
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: To get better.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: Else is worried about that? Yeah, and figuring out a
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: way to put together a full forty eight minute game.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Josh and Jail you can chime as well. Uh So
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: many of these NBA playoffs game playoffs games the past,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you know, a couple of weeks have taken more of
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: a March madness, uh tenor with you know, tippings at
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: the buzzer. You know Tyres calipertn doing this thing. Jalen
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: and Detroit. You guys have been part of a national championship.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: You guys have been part of a team that was
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: an up one seed. IM sorry, you know I'm saying him.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I got one one, I got one, I got one
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: part I got one. Are there any parallels between the
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: winner go Home with March Madness to what these playoffs
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: have produced?
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Nah, I don't think so. I think the craziness is
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: there and the intensity is there, and I think that's
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: fun for the fans, fun for the league, fun for
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: you know, the players. But it's a totally different game,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: totally different style. But you always have to approach the
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: game with that kind of intensity, that kind of winner
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: go home. You know, uh, physicality and energy and when
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: you do that, good things happen. But you know, there's
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: been some crazy games in this playoffs and it's been
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: fun to watch and to be a part of.
• 10:13
  Speaker 11: Uh, this is for both of you, But Jalen, are
• 10:16
  Speaker 11: you I know you've got to be laser focused on
• 10:19
  Speaker 11: the next game, the next series, but are both of
• 10:22
  Speaker 11: you aware of sort of a positive impact that uh
• 10:26
  Speaker 11: that your your your game and your victory is bless
• 10:29
  Speaker 11: you are having on a city like New York. It's
• 10:32
  Speaker 11: kind of you know, people all over the place. But
• 10:34
  Speaker 11: are you aware of just the impact that you guys
• 10:37
  Speaker 11: are having on.
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: I want to say that we were aware. We see
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: obviously what happens after the after games, home games, what
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: the fans do. But I'm gonna let them do them.
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: I'm just we're gonna focus on us.