SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jalen Brunson should’ve played with latex gloves and a surgical mask with the way he dissected the Kings.
The point guard shredded the Kings with precision, dropping 42 points as the Knicks won Saturday night, 98-91, riding their All-Star and trademark physical defense in front of a jacked up crowd.
Brunson was the engine, the steering wheel and the tires. He knocked down 17 of 28 field goals in 36 minutes, including the biggest shot of the evening — a floater off a quick dribble that gave the visitors a 96-91 lead with 37 seconds remaining.
Sacramento’s Keon Ellis, who was the primary defender on that play, took a quick glance at an incoming screen and that split second was all Brunson required to get to the basket for the Knicks’ (40-27) dagger.
He became the first Knick since Carmelo Anthony in 2014 to record back-to-back games with 40-plus scoring, and just the fourth player in franchise history with Bernard King and Patrick Ewing as the other two on the list.
“That’s elite company,” Josh Hart said.
The performance followed a 45-point game from Brunson two nights prior in Portland, when teammate Donte DiVincenzo declared, “He’s an All-Star point guard, that’s what they do.”
Except Brunson has been more than an All-Star this season. He’s on pace to become the first Knick guard named to All-NBA since Clyde Frazier in 1975, nearly 50 years ago.
Brunson is also inching up the list of best players at his position across the league. If there’s an adjustment to remove the giant hybrid ball handlers from the conversation — specifically Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic — then Brunson could be a top-3 point guard.
It depends where he would be ranked among Steph Curry, Dame Lillard, Tyrese Haliburton, Jamal Murray, Trae Young and De’Aaron Fox.
On Saturday, Brunson outplayed one of the players on that list, Fox, who had an inefficient 20 points on 5 of 19 shooting.
Brunson, meanwhile, served the Kings with scoring a la carte, an assortment of 3-pointers, floaters, pivots and drives.
He found angles that shouldn’t exist, like with 5:46 remaining when he threaded an and-1 lay-up from underneath two defenders with swinging arms.
It was more impressive considering Brunson consistently drove the ball yet only took four foul shots.
“To drive the ball as many times as he does, the physicality, he’s being trapped, they’re pursing him, they’re hitting him, and he only had four free throws,” Thibodeau said. “But that’s what I love about him. He’s tough minded, can figure it out and he knows how the game’s being called. He knows he’s on the road, it’s going to be tough, and that doesn’t slow him down. He doesn’t let the officials impact in any way.”
With DiVincenzo still misfiring, OG Anunoby way off Saturday and Julius Randle in street clothes, Thibodeau once again leaned on his point guard.
Brunson finished with 43 percent of his team’s points, two nights after finishing with — you guessed it — 43 percent of his team’s points in Portland.
The Kings, like the Knicks, are experiencing success after decades of putridness.
They’re still not considered contenders, but the combination of Fox and Domantas Sabonis have elevated them to playoff contention.
They’re also young and fast, with Fox among the NBA’s quickest, which the Knicks combated with power.
“For a defender like I am, I like to be physical,” Hart said, “so I enjoy it.”
Sabonis was still a handful.
The skilled big man, who leads the league in triple-doubles, hammered the paint and dropped 21 points with 14 boards.
But the Kings couldn’t stop the surgically-precise Brunson.
“You almost come to expect what Jalen did,” Thibodeau said. “It’s every night and it’s big play after big play.”
