Latest / Bleacher Report / Jalen Brunson & OG Anunoby Talk Knicks 20-Point Comeback in Game 1 vs. Celtics _ 2025 NBA Playoffs

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Jalen Brunson & OG Anunoby Talk Knicks 20-Point Comeback in Game 1 vs. Celtics _ 2025 NBA Playoffs · Bleacher Report

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Uh, for both of you guys. Obviously they were able
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to get out to a twenty point lead, but it
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: feels like you guys were able to turn out the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: intensity and kind of show off that resilience that you
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: guys have shown all year. What kind of those conversations
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: like as they were taking off and prepping for what
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: you guys were able to do.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: In the end.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: To each other just keep believing and just keep firing,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: sticking together and keep tripping away. And wasn't just gonna
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: what is it gonna be a twenty point shot where
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: you can just come back? We try to keep chipping
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: myay possession by possession and then just find a way
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: keep getting stops and making play offensive one as well
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I'm gill. How about the what Og did in the
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: when you guys were down twenty and what he was
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: able to do there to lift you.
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: Guys back up.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it definitely sparked us and the sty he's been playing,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: not just in the postseason but all year. I mean
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: I have the utmost confidence of him every time myself
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: on the floor on both sides of the ball. So
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: that's what we expect, Jayden.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: There are forty predicts from ESPN's experts.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: There are all of them say they are not You're
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: not winning tonight.
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: Like after this game, you got any message for them.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: No.
• 1:27
  Speaker 6: Guys, for either of you. Guys. How important was McHale
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: particularly down the stretch both sides.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I mean he got big stops, he made big time shots.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: You know, he just stayed with it, kept playing hard
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and you saw the results.
• 1:43
  Speaker 7: Jiyalen. When that shot doesn't go down at the end
• 1:46
  Speaker 7: of regulation, you look like you were kind of incredulous.
• 1:48
  Speaker 7: But how do you guys get in the huddle and
• 1:51
  Speaker 7: for overtime we kind of just regroup.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like we still had my mental at
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: that point. Obviously I was wasn't the result, but that'd
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: be wanted. But you know, we had another five minutes
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: to go out there compete, and we went out there
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: as a team and did that. Just thankfully I have
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: my teammates because uh yeah, over time, I wasn't at
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: my best, but my teammates on my back and I'm
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: very thankful for that.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: Oh gee, I got two for you real quick, just
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: number one in the season series taking a maverage over thirty.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Just what did you see.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: Tonight that a that allowed you to kind of have
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: your impact on the defensive.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: End, Uh, just force him in a difficult shots. You know,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: he's a great player, so and he's gonna make some
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: tough ones. Just trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: and yeah, see if he makes the shot, just make
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: it as difficult as possible.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: And then on the offensive end, just at at what
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: point did you know that you had it going? Because
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: I look like every time that you you got into
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: attack mode, you you made them pick.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I mean I felt like I had to go on early,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: you know, just trying to look hun for shots, get
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: on transition to run and just be aggressive and make
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the right player whether it's passing it or shooting it.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Og.
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: You have championship experience a lot of playoff experience, but
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: you had your playoff experience taken away from you by
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: you know, injury last year. How much did the championship
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: experience and what happened last year really fored you into
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: this sort of moment here against the defending NBA champion.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I mean I think, yeah, I played against great teams
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: in the past, and yeah, I think I mean, we
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: all have experience, you know, Jalen has been the conference finals,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Micheale and Cavin' been in the finals. Cat's been in
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the West Conference finals. So I think collectively we're all
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: experienced group and shows like in moments like this, like
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: in tough games, you know we're resilient.
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: Boston fifteen of sixty from beyond the Arc. I guess
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: what was working for you guys. Obviously they missed some
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: open looks, but I guess schematically what was working for
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  Speaker 6: you guys to get out and challenge you want.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, they still got a lot of threes up,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: so it's on us to limit their attempts. But I
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: think for the most part it made them tough. They
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: had a lot of easy looks to be they were
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: thankful that they missed, but I continue to make it tough,
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: and you just don't know when they're gonna be able
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: to knock them down because they also, I think at
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: the beginning of the year almost had a record on
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: us shooting sixty threes, So I mean, you gotta be
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: better at that aspect and not let them shoot as much.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: And now they could let them get the open, open
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Jesus open shots up.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: You guys did a lot of switching tonight, and it
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: felt like at the end they really wore on them.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Everybody kind of defended one on one for both of you.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: How much of that game plan is coming in is
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: a collaboration with TIBs and like, let's try this, these
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: are things that we think we can work on, or
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: how much is it the coaching staff coming to you
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: guys with this game plan and thinking just something different
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to try for this group.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: I think it's a mix of both, you know, the
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: coaches coming to us, then the players also taking the
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: challenge and wanting to go hard, wanted to get stops,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: you know, just taking pride and playing defense. I think
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: we all did it tonight and we can get even better.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: After the way the regular season series went. How much
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: did tonight kind of provide a blueprint for what it
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: takes to beat this team going forward? Yeah, we gotta
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: play defense collectively and offensively. We gotta get the best
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: shot possible, trust each other on both sides of the ball,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: and make sure we're sticking together. I don't think there
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: is a blueprint to say, but I think as long
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: as you sit together, I mean, anything as possible.
• 5:36
  Speaker 7: And Tips kind of talked about emotions being one of
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: the most difficult things to manage during the postseason.
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: How do you kind of flush this as good as
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: it was.
• 5:44
  Speaker 8: And move on to the next one.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: Tonight, you know, we all go back, we eat dinner together,
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: and I'll wake up tomorrow and as a brand new
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: day now game two zero zero, that we gotta go
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: out there and do the same thing. That's just our mindset.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: We gotta flush this a quick as possible.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Jalen, did it.
• 6:02
  Speaker 8: Feel fitting that Bridges got made the play that he
• 6:06
  Speaker 8: did at the end of the game, given the game
• 6:07
  Speaker 8: that he had and kind of the way the way
• 6:09
  Speaker 8: that you guys kind of snatched that game back, or
• 6:12
  Speaker 8: given the way it was.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, you can say that, but I think what's
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: most important that we're out there together and now we're
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: gonna fight for each other every possession and no matter
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: how the game starts to finishes, that we're gonna be
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: there together. And I think that's how we want it to.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: We just want to stick together throughout, through all the nonsense,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: through all the bs that goes on, and good and bad,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: We're gonna be together.
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: Jalen, or actually either one of you when you guys
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: are down twenty how much is Josh's seems like his
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: energy really carried you guys a little bit there. How
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: much does that help you when your things aren't going well?
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's just who he is. You know, He's
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: gonna find a way the run around and do things
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: the way the way he brings the energy night in
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: the night out, and it's just it's contagious. And so
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: when he does that, and I think he helps us
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: become a better team and we feel of his energy
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: and then it propelled us to come back down twenty.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: Jaalen seems like new night, same question. But down the stretch,
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: clutch moments you come through for your team with obviously
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: the exception of the floater that.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: So not clutch enough.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: I mean got the win at the end of the day,
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: Just in those moments, Just where does your mind go?
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: How are you able to put your team on your
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: back consistently when when the game is on the line.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: It's not about putting the team in my back. It's
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: just I have confidence of them, they have confidence in me,
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: and we're gonna go out there, we're gonna compete, We're
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: gonna find a way the best find the best way
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: to attack his possession, and so yeah, it may look
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: like I get the credit, but it's a credit to them.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: It's it's not just.
• 7:49
  Speaker 9: Me, Jayleen. Especially when Og is going like that defensively,
• 7:54
  Speaker 9: he can be he can be so quick getting out
• 7:57
  Speaker 9: and transition as as often the guy who receives the
• 8:00
  Speaker 9: outlet pass. Where are you looking for him? When you
• 8:03
  Speaker 9: guys are getting stops and you're getting out running, whether
• 8:06
  Speaker 9: however you get to stop, where are you looking for him?
• 8:08
  Speaker 9: What's your process?
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: Like?
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: There always looking ahead and me and Oji always lock
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: eyes and see where we can attack offentially, whether it's
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: in the transition, whethers in a half court, he always
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: finds the seam to be open, and so when he's open,
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: I know he's gonna knock it down. And so there's
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: just the chemistry we've had since we've been together, and
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: so I'm gonna get better.
• 8:30
  Speaker 9: Do you feel like do you feel like it's it's
• 8:32
  Speaker 9: in a different place now.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure, Derek said. One question. One last question,