Jalen Brunson wary of Stephon Castle's defensive prowess
SAN ANTONIO -- Jalen Brunson has seen just about every defensive coverage the NBA has to offer, but the Finals present perhaps the biggest challenge of all for theNew York Knicksguard.
The San Antonio Spurs have the duo of young and energetic Stephon Castle, and otherworldly Victor Wembanyama backing him up. Castle stymied back-to-back Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderof theOklahoma City Thunderin the Western Conference finals, and also has Anthony Edwards, Julius Randleof theMinnesota TimberwolvesandDeni Avdijaof thePortland Trail Blazerson his postseason jacket.
It appears Castle has Brunson's utmost respect and attention before the teams' series begins Wednesday.
"He's great. I think his intensity and tenacity is special," Brunson said during media day at San Antonio's Frost Bank Center on Tuesday. "He plays with a chip on his shoulder. He's had that since I've seen him at UConn. The way he's played over these first couple years of his career, he's going to be a great player, great defender."
Brunson hasn't had to put on his cape often this postseason, but the moment might call for it as the Spurs figure to be far more competitive than the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers, the two teams the Knicks swept on the way to the NBA Finals.
Brunson is still averaging 27 points and 6.6 assists in 14 playoff games. Castle has had success against Brunson in a limited sample size. Per genius IQ, Castle held Brunson to 3-of-11 shooting (27.3%) when matched up.
"I think what's worked for me is trying to be physical with him," Castle said. "He's obviously shorter than me, but he's a very physical guard, he gets to his spots well. Uses deception well, has great footwork.
"Trying to be as disciplined as I can, crowd his space, but not give him the angles that he's looking for. At this point he's seen pretty much every coverage, been guarded all kinds of ways."
Cleveland's Dean Wade had similar regular-season numbers against Brunson, but it amounted to nothing when it counted. Castle just missed making the NBA All-Defensive team this season, the player who received the most votes without getting one of the 10 spots.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson gushed over Castle's defensive prowess but stopped short of putting the second-year guard with some of the league's greatest names simply because, "I don't want to get crucified."
"But in terms of output of energy, when you think about what he's doing defensively and offensively, it takes you to some really rare territory of names that you may not want to say in terms of because you're not comparing him to that person or this person," Johnson said.
"It's similar to Victor in terms of he's basically in the middle of every single play for us offensively, defensively, but he's on the basketball."
And it's not only Castle. Of course, there's Wembanyama patrolling the lane, or playing off Josh Hart to hedge defensively. There's also Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell and so many others who can switch onto Brunson for stretches. If the Knicks targetedJames Harden in the conference finals, there's no such easy matchup for the Knicks to exploit in this series.
"Yeah, they're very physical. The way they play, obviously, they're able to pressure on the perimeter," Brunson said. "Obviously, having Wemby down there on the weak side creates havoc. They're multidimensional. A lot of ways they can beat you on both sides of the ball."
In addition to that, Brunson has had to keep his pulse on his team in the break between the conference finals and Finals while waiting on the Spurs and Thunder to go a full seven games.
In waiting over a week for the Cavaliers before the East finals, the Knicks had an extended break. It resulted in the New York falling behind by 20-plus points in Game 1 before a furious rally sent the game to overtime, followed by the Knicks regaining control and devastating the Cavaliers.
Brunson isn't banking on similar circumstances if his team comes out sluggish.
"When we were in the gym, we were focused," Brunson said. "We were practicing pretty hard, understanding that not knowing who we were playing yet, we had to prepare for both teams. We didn't want to be behind the eight ball.
"It was really important for us to have those days because we saw how we came out in Game 1 last time when we had the rest days. I feel it's really important those days we had, it was important for us, for sure."
