As I may have mentioned, the Knicks are the 2026 NBA Champions. New York City is still celebrating. Of the games, Game Four against the San Antonio Spurs was one of the most extraordinary basketball games ever. My husband Jamie and I were there! It was a highlight of my life.

In one of the interviews that followed the championship win,  I was very struck by something that team captain and MVP Jalen Brunson said. He was talking about a situation involving Josh Hart, and Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart are longtime close friends.

But first, I have to explain the context. In the closing minutes of the game, after the Knicks had made an agonizing, historic comeback, Josh Hart missed a wide-open layup that he definitely should have been able to make—one that would have put the Knicks in the lead when they were just one point behind the Spurs, in a crucial championship game.

Think about that moment, that failure! This must have been a moment of devastating self-blame and disappointment. Spoiler alert, play continued, and the Knicks did win by one point, and of course they went on to win Game 5 and the championship. In those closing moments, Brunson launched a three-pointer that missed, but somehow OG Anunoby managed to race toward the basket and tip in the ball to put the Knicks in the lead with 1.2 seconds on the clock. Time ran out, and the Knicks won. This tip-in was absolutely spectacular team performance.

Back to the interview with Jalen Brunson: a reporter asked him, “What’s one play that you think embodies this entire title run?”

Here’s a lightly edited version of his answer:

“When Josh honestly missed the layup. No, I’m not trying to be funny. Usually I joke about that stuff. He missed the layup in Game Four…Josh is on the floor, kinda holding his face, and me, KAT, and Jose ran to him [meaning teammates Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Jose Alvarado] saying “Get up, next play…I think that play really embodies this team.”

The interviewer asked him to elaborate, because she was surprised; she would have thought he would have picked a moment like the OG Anunoby tip-in.

Brunson continued, “When you’re able to look past the mistakes, you’re able to do things like make a shot or get the offensive rebound, like that. But when you quickly doubt yourself, and when you have your teammates come and pick you up, say, ‘We’re good, we’re good,’ that gives us confidence to be able to make another play.”

Hearing him point to this moment made me go back to watch that part of the game. I’ll include a link in the show notes, if you want to watch yourself. At about minute 4:25 of the video clip, we see Josh Hart go for the layup and miss. We see play continue. We see him on the ground, with his head in his hands–then we see his teammates Brunson, Alvarado, and Towns all quickly circle around him, bend down, stretch out their hands, and together pull him to his feet.

This exchange passed in a flash, but for Jalen Brunson, it was the moment that embodied the entire title run. “Get up, next play, we’re good.” He valued a moment that showed team persistence over a moment of pyrotechnics.

If you want to see the interview when Jalen Brunson makes this observation, I’ve linked it here.  

I’ll also post a clip of the actual game, if you want to see that key moment in context for yourself. It comes around 4:25. It happens very fast.

Next week, I’m going to make a different observation about that game. It held a lot of lessons!