Newly acquired New York Knick Jalen Brunson has provided his reflections on the wild conclusion to the Phoenix Suns-Dallas Mavericks playoff series.
Speaking on The Old Man and the Three Podcast with JJ Redick and Tommy Alter, the former Mavericks guard detailed how surprised he was with the astonishing game seven that ended the Suns season.
While Jalen Brunson and the Dallas Mavericks were confident of beating the Phoenix Suns in their second-round playoff series, the astounding ending shocked even Brunson himself.
Brunson, who recently signed with the Knicks in free agency, detailed his team’s mood and attitude heading into two elimination games after Phoenix had taken a 3-2 lead.
"“We’re fine. We’re good. That was the whole mood of all of us. We’re good. It wasn’t like an uptight, balled fist. No, we were just calm, ready to go out there and play.“We loved proving people wrong. Like, no one thought we could do certain things and we were just like, ‘alright, let’s go prove them wrong again”."
The Mavericks easily accounted for the Suns in game six, tying the series at home with a 113-86 victory thanks to Luka Doncic’s 33-point, 11 rebound, eight assist performance.
What followed in game seven left the NBA world stunned. Going in as underdogs, Dallas produced a 57-27 first half before finishing with a 33-point win. Although Brunson was confident, the reality was much different to what even he had envisaged.
"“Once we got to game seven, we knew we had a chance to win…They had a little bit of expectation on that side. I knew we could win, I didn’t think we could win like that. I didn’t it was going to happen like that. That was nuts”."
Dallas have had an interesting offseason, losing Brunson but acquiring former Rockets center Christian Wood via trade, as well as former Suns’ big man Javale McGee.
Despite their disappointing playoff exit, Phoenix should be confident of having Dallas’ measure once their meetings roll around next season.