New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson discusses series vs Indiana Pacers and injury narrative: ‘We had chances to win’

Star guard Jalen Brunson doesn’t like the narratives surrounding the New York Knicks second round series loss to the Indiana Pacers. The All-NBA Second Team performer discussed his feelings on a recent episode of the Roommates Show podcast.

“The one thing I hated the most, even though we were playing well, we were winning. We were up 2-0, then up 3-2. Whenever we lost, everyone was like ‘they’re tired or their injuries’. That kind of pissed me off because we didn’t have a full team, but I don’t want the narrative to be ‘they’re hurt, so let’s give them a pass’,” Brunson said. He joined the podcast virtually. “No, we had chances to win that series and didn’t. We had chances to go up 3-0 and we didn’t. I just hate the fact that sometimes people give us the fact that we were injured, or that injuries happen. Yeah, they’re part of the game, but that’s not why we lost… I just hate the narrative.”

The Knicks were missing Julius Randle and Bojan Bogdanovic before the series started, and they lost Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby to injuries during the best-of-seven. Brunson and Josh Hart, the latter of whom was co-hosting this podcast episode, also got banged up during the series.

But Brunson feels like that shouldn’t be considered the reason the Knicks lost to the Pacers. They were up 2-0 in the set and had a chance to win Game 3. In Brunson’s eyes, New York simply came up short.

Both Hart and Brunson felt better about how they were eliminated this season compared to their series defeat to the Miami Heat in 2023. That series ended in six games. This time, both players felt like they left everything on the hardwood. “How the season kind of ended, half of it wasn’t in our control with guys getting hurt, guys going down… We made the best out of the situation that we were kind of dealt. I can live with that,” Hart shared.

The two players discussed many other topics about the Pacers, including Hart having a wine exchange with Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, Andrew Nembhard’s game-winning triple in Game 3, a facetime call with Tyrese Haliburton they had, and more.

“He’s a little annoying player on the court, but a great dude. Had a great playoffs,” Hart said of McConnell. Both Brunson and Hart also shared some notes about their rehab from injury.

Later, they talked about the Boston Celtics beating the Pacers in a sweep during the Eastern Conference Finals. “Damn, y’all couldn’t get one win?” “At least get one!” Hart joked about Indiana. They both concluded that their own series against the Pacers was taxing on the body because the blue and gold played so fast.

The entire episode can be seen here.