PHILADELPHIA — Ferdinand Magellan has nothing on Jalen Brunson.
One of history’s great explorers never had to swerve around a pick-and-roll and peer into the eyes of a mammoth like Joel Embiid. The hope in those moments — when the Philadelphia 76ers drape Brunson as Embiid stands in his path — is to find space. Discoveries don’t come nearly as easily when a terrain is already occupied.
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Yet, Brunson continues to find it.
Maneuver into Embiid, and he’s at risk of a blocked or altered shot. Pull up early, and the 76ers get what they want: a rushed jumper from an inefficient part of the court.
Brunson may not have sailed through the Pacific Ocean’s uncharted waters. But just when it seems earth has few remaining unknown crevices — that’s when Brunson jolts somewhere new, as he did time and time again during the New York Knicks’ 97-92 Game 4 win on Sunday.
Place him inside a defense with the Sixers’ relentless defenders behind him with Embiid waiting down low, where every nook and cranny of hardwood appears covered, and Brunson will plant his flag where man has never before stepped.
“I’m exploring a lot,” Brunson said. “I see a lot and just read what happens, what (Embiid) does, and then just figure something out.”
On Sunday, there weren’t many problems Brunson couldn’t solve. Wherever the Sixers went, he eluded them.
The Knicks point guard went for a franchise playoff record 47 points to go with 10 assists, giving the Knicks a 3-1 lead in their first-round series. New York now has three chances to win once. Two of those, including the next one, will be at familiar grounds for Brunson, Madison Square Garden. If they move on, they’d have a date with either the Milwaukee Bucks or Indiana Pacers in Round 2.
Life may not be as difficult for Brunson against either of those opponents, both of whom lack the defensive presence on the perimeter that the Sixers have. But despite a rock-solid game plan of exhaustive effort, never-ending physicality and intelligent play after intelligent play, Philadelphia is no longer containing one of the league’s shiftiest scorers.
Wherever the 76ers go, whatever they do, Brunson is navigating to open spots and slicing apart a top-notch defense.
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“Jalen’s a great player,” OG Anunoby said. “You come to expect it. You expect him to make every shot.”
Early in Game 4, Brunson attacked the rim. He then got comfortable with his floater. He made a point to prioritize the short midrange shot over longer 16-footers. When he curled around a pick-and-roll with one defender on his back and another in front of him, he drifted to a sweet spot between and transformed into a familiar being, one with the mentality of a 1990s power forward, the size of a Big East point guard and the cartographic genius of Marco Polo.
“That’s our engine,” Josh Hart said.
And his Knicks are revving behind him.
They are doing it because of defense. Anunoby was magical in Game 4, his greatest performance during this series, scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. He began the game in an adjusted defensive role, manning Kelly Oubre Jr. and roaming to the middle, cutting off driving lanes while also having to close out on shooters.
In the fourth quarter, Anunoby shifted to Embiid, who he bodied hard. The Sixers center did not make a shot during the final period and scored only one point during that time.
They are doing it because of rebounding. Once again, the Knicks wrecked the 76ers on the glass, pulling down 15 offensive rebounds on a day when Mitchell Robinson did not play because of a sprained left ankle.
But they also are doing it because so often, the team that wins a playoff series is the one with the best player.
During Game 3, when Embiid went for 50 points, he owned that title. By no coincidence, Philadelphia reigned victorious that night.
But on Sunday, during a chippy series where referee-induced drama has overshadowed high-caliber basketball, Brunson shifted focus back to the players.
“We needed it,” Hart said. “S—, starting small forward, power forward, whatever I am, where I didn’t make a shot. I was like Shaq at the free-throw line.”
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But even when Shaquille O’Neal missed his free throws, he still had Kobe Bryant. Hart still has his engine, Brunson.
Hart may have clanked all seven of his field-goal attempts, but he made up for it with 17 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. He’s not the only one Brunson had to help. Donte DiVincenzo has not knocked down jumpers as expected since draining the game winner in that chaotic Game 2. He finished Game 4 with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. Only Brunson (47), Anunoby (16) and Miles “Deuce” McBride (13) scored in double figures for the Knicks.
Philadelphia has thrown all it can at Brunson. Oubre has stuck to him tight. Kyle Lowry has gotten physical. Nicolas Batum deploys his veteran savvy. The players who aren’t his primary defenders have locked into Brunson at all times.
For the first two games of this series, Brunson didn’t look like himself, shooting just 29 percent from the field. For the last two, and on Sunday especially, he punished mismatches. Once the 76ers switched a vulnerable defender onto him, he attacked. He finished around the rim. He made tough shots, a necessary accomplishment when a defense is as ferocious as the Sixers’ has been.
“Even when he was cold the first couple of games, you knew he was going to turn it around,” Anunoby said. “Just because we see him every day — it was going to turn around eventually.”
Not even two seasons into his time with the Knicks, Brunson is already plastering himself all over the franchise’s record book. He came within one point of Carmelo Anthony’s single-game scoring record during a 61-point outburst against the San Antonio Spurs earlier this season. Now, he’s soaring past playoff performers.
His 47-point blowup tops the previous franchise record, a four-decade-old benchmark from Hall of Famer Bernard King, who dropped 46 twice in the same 1984 series.
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This is no surprise, even considering how one of the league’s stingiest defenses has swarmed a man who may not be too small to be a 1A. Brunson’s defining trait this season has been how he responds to his struggles. Opponents can catch him by surprise with an interminably long defender or an aggressive strategy. But eventually — usually for one game, though in this case, it took two — he will figure out a coverage and overcome it.
On Sunday, he reminded the world of a trend that he proved time and time again during the regular season. Even when there appears to be no room, just like the great explorers before his time, from Magellan to Polo to Neil Armstrong, he will find space.
(Photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
