There may not be a player in the NBA who is as important to their team’s success on the court as New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson. Brunson missed his fourth game of the season on Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans as he was dealing with cervical neck spasms.

Brunson took a few hard shots on Monday night against the Detroit Pistons and the Knicks exhibited extreme caution holding him out of the second night of a back-to-back. Their offense suffered as a result, as New York managed to score only 92 points.

Playing without a star player is hard enough; when four other starting-caliber players join him on the sideline, it makes things very difficult on the court. Offense isn’t always easy to come by for the Knicks, but without Brunson, things get ugly on the court.

In the four games he has missed, New York has failed to reach the century mark in three of them, looking like one of the worst teams in the NBA. It is no surprise that the Knicks have gone 1-3 without Brunson this season, as he is the engine that makes this team go.

NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Jalen Brunson & New York Knicks Updates

On Monday, he showcased that against the Pistons. Detroit didn’t have consistent answers for him as Brunson scored from every level of the court. He shot poorly from the perimeter, going 3-of-11 on 3-pointers, but was 8-of-15 on 2-point attempts. Brunson lived at the charity stripe as well, shooting 10-of-11 on free throws.

On the evening, he scored 35 points, giving him back-to-back outings he reached the 30-point plateau and third time in the last four games. Without NBA All-Star Julius Randle and OG Anunoby in the lineup, Brunson has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting offensively the last month.

But, big scoring nights aren’t anything new for him this season. As shared by BrunsonMuse on X, Monday was the 24th time this season Brunson scored 30+ points. He is the first Knicks guard to score 30+ points that many times in a season since 1965.

With 23 games remaining in the regular season, Brunson is likely going to set some franchise records. This has already been a memorable campaign for him, as he made NBA history earlier this week. With Randle and Anunoby still a few weeks away from returning the Knicks are going to need more big scoring nights from their All-Star point guard to win games.

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