WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The captain of the Yankees needs he might see extra of the captain of the Knicks, however he has been impressed with what he has seen.
Aside from Video games 3 and 6 of the primary spherical of the NBA playoffs — which have been each in Detroit — every Knicks playoff recreation has coincided with a Yankees recreation.
The Yankees have been taking part in once more Saturday on the opposite facet of the nation because the Knicks hosted Sport 3 of the second spherical in opposition to the Celtics on the Backyard, the place they suffered a lopsided 115-93 loss.
“It’s been robust to catch a recreation,” Decide stated earlier than Saturday’s 11-7 loss to the A’s at Sutter Well being Park. “However I’ve been seeing the highlights, seeing what they’re doing.
“It’s spectacular, particularly going up in opposition to Boston. They only received it, the previous champs.
“And for [the Knicks] to have a two-game lead, it’s fairly spectacular. They’ve been up. They’ve been down huge. Come again with some nice clutch performs on the finish on the offensive facet and defensive facet. I want we might catch a recreation.”
Decide met Jalen Brunson final 12 months when Brunson threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a recreation in The Bronx.
Arguably the 2 hottest athletes in New York talked on the sphere for a number of minutes, not sufficient time to actually get to know one another however sufficient time for Brunson to make an impression.
“Looks like an awesome man,” stated Decide, who himself was a highschool basketball star in Northern California. “He additionally had his entire household there, which I feel speaks volumes about the kind of individual he’s. He’s a household man.
“He was simply cool, calm and picked up on the sphere, which is sort of how he’s on the market on the basketball courtroom.”
In some methods, Decide and Brunson are related as gamers who established themselves as standouts earlier than pushing themselves to a special echelon.
Decide — an All-Star and Rookie of the 12 months in his second style of the majors — basically has eradicated any weak point from his recreation over time and now could be higher in contrast with the legends from the previous than his personal contemporaries.
The celebrity, who hit two house runs in Saturday’s loss, enters Sunday with the slash line triple crown, main the majors in common (.396), on-base proportion (.486) and slugging proportion (.772).
His 14 house runs and 37 RBIs are tops, too, as he tries to outdo his historic, 62 house runs in 2022 and an much more spectacular 2024, which he completed with a 1.159 OPS.
Brunson was a complementary participant with the Mavericks, a second-round pick of Villanova who labored his method from a bench piece to develop into Luka Doncic’s wing man.
He then signed with the Knicks in 2022 and unlocked a brand new stage of stardom.
This 12 months, a former second banana has carried a previously woebegone franchise previous the Pistons and has threatened to do the unthinkable in knocking off the Celtics.
The Clutch Participant of the 12 months lifted the Knicks again from 20-point deficits in Video games 1 and a couple of, with Brunson’s free throws placing his crew excessive within the second recreation.
Getting into Saturday’s Sport 3 — at which senior Yankees adviser Omar Minaya sat courtside — Brunson was averaging 29.4 factors and seven.6 assists in eight playoff video games.
“He’s a quiet murderer,” Decide stated of Brunson, who scored 27 factors however struggled within the Knicks’ Sport 3 loss. “He goes on the market, does his job. … It’s fairly spectacular to see and enjoyable to look at, particularly in New York.”
