New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson. Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Jalen Brunson joins elite company after latest dominant playoff performance

By Sai Mohan | Last updated May 7, 2024 8:38 AM ET

Few debates in sports are as polarizing as the Michael Jordan versus LeBron James GOAT discourse, but nearly everyone has both players on their Mt. Rushmore of basketball greats.

For Jalen Brunson — a former second-round draft pick and sixth man — to register a playoff stat line that only Jordan and James have achieved is remarkable. By dropping 43 points and six assists in Monday's Game 1 win over the Pacers, Brunson joined Jordan and James as the third player in NBA postseason history to register over 200 points and 40 assists over a five-game stretch.

Only players in NBA playoff history to record 200+ PTS & 40+ AST over a 5-game span:

LeBron James
Michael Jordan
Jalen Brunson pic.twitter.com/L3bdOZySZR
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) May 7, 2024

For his scoring prowess, Brunson also became the first player since Jordan to notch four consecutive 40-point games in the playoffs. The only others to achieve the feat? Jerry West in 1965 and Bernard King in 1984. That's some elite company.

Brunson last 4 playoff games:

43 PTS | 6 AST
41 PTS | 12 AST
40 PTS | 6 AST
47 PTS | 10 AST

The first player with four straight 40-point playoff games since Michael Jordan. pic.twitter.com/vMyKMXcbPk
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 7, 2024

Despite Brunson's ongoing heroics, many have continued to question his ability to guide the Knicks to an NBA title. Draymond Green, for one, believes "a ball-dominant Jalen Brunson" won't be able to take the Knicks to "the promised land" and end their 51-year NBA title drought.

All Brunson can do is continue to prove Green and his other detractors wrong.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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