NBA
Knicks Star Holds Crazy Stat Over Giants’ Daniel Jones
Despite all Jalen Brunson has done for the New York Knicks, metropolitan football fans will likely remind their hardwood companions that nobdoy’s perfect.
Brunson turning himself into a roundball icon in New York has left Manhattanites willing to overlook an otherwise mortal sin: support of the Philadelphia Eagles, the divisional rival of the New York Giants. Seeing a Madison Square Garden pull for the Birds is bad enough, but Brunson’s on-court progress has added a new layer to gridiron futility in the tri-state area.
After the Giants endured a brutal beginning to the 2024-25 NFL seasons … falling by a 28-6 final to the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium last Sunday … data explorer StatMuse used Brunson’s new York takeover to demonstrate just how bad things have gotten for Big Blue’s situation, namely that of embattled franchise quarterback Daniel Jones.
“Fun fact,” StatMuse declared before making a declaration Giants fans will hardly find “fun:” “Jalen Brunson has more 40-point playoff games than Daniel Jones has games with 1+ PASS TD over the last 650 days.”
To be fair to Jones, currently enduring his sixth season under New York center, Brunson has had more opportunities to play, as the former missed most of last season with an injury. However, even in the offense-happy situation of the modern NBA, 40-point playoff games are exceedingly rare.
As a show of his power, however, Brunson has put up six over the last two Knicks postseasons, one shy of the franchise record set by Bernard King. In that same span (since December 2022), Jones has had a game with a touchdown pass on only five occasions, the last coming over a full calendar year ago in a win over Arizona last fall. Jones and Co. were kept out of the end zone entirely during Sunday’s game, which came two days after Brunson’s Eagles took a narrow decision from the Green Bay Packers from Brazil in their own opener.
Time will tell just howmuch longer Jones lasts at the helm of the Giants ‘ offense. It’s becoming increasingly clear, however, that the Giants may soon need a Brunson-style savior to drag them out of this rut, which has produced one playoff appearance since 2017.
Brunson’s teammate Josh Hart will no doubt hope the Giants’ troubles extend at least one more week, as Big Blue faces his beloved Washington Commanders on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, Fox).