NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson is one of the best players in the NBA, so with the Boston Celtics taking on the New York Knicks in the playoffs, Jrue Holiday revealed the top priority when taking on the matchup: “Try not to foul him.”
Over the past few years, Brunson has quickly become one of the best grifters in the NBA, finding various ways to get himself to the foul line and earn his team extra points. “Know that he lives at the free-throw line and does a great job of drawing fouls,” Holiday said. “Try to keep up the free-throw line as much as possible. And then, show multiple bodies.”
Through the first three games of the second round, despite being down 2-1, the Celtics have succeeded in that mission.
After averaging 9.0 free throws per game in the first round against the Detroit Pistons, Brunson is down to just 6.0 per game against the Celtics. He’s also dipped to just 38.1% shooting from the field, though his three-point percentage has remained high (38.5%).
How has Jrue Holiday done against Jalen Brunson?
So far this series, Holiday has been the primary defender on Brunson. He’s spent 15:55 of game time guarding the Knicks star through the first three games, with Derrick White clocking in at second place with 12:21.
In the minutes Holiday has spent on Brunson, he’s held him to just 5-of-18 shooting from the floor and 2-of-7 shooting from behind the three-point line.
He and Al Horford have worked in tandem on a lot of possessions, as Brunson has tried to get a switch onto the Celtics big man.
‘Don’t foul Brunson’ has been the plan all year
Even before the start of the playoffs, the Celtics’ regular-season game plan against Brunson remained stalwart: Don’t foul him.
In the four games the two sides played one another, Brunson attempted 18 total free throws, and 13 of them came in the same game. That means, in the other three games, Brunson shot just five free throws combined.
Boston did a phenomenal job of limiting his ability to earn extra points for his team by pump-faking, back-stepping, and grinding his way to the charity stripe. And for the most part, it worked. But despite the Knicks’ series lead, his free-throw-oriented ways haven’t panned out thus far against the Celtics.
Holiday has done an incredible job of preventing Brunson from getting comfortable and limiting his scoring. Brunson is too good of a player to ever be fully shut down, but Holiday has done everything possible to inch closer to that point.