Following the Knicks’ closeout Game 5 on Saturday that gave the franchise its first title since 1973, captain and NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson made a special guest appearance on ABC’s “The View.”
Host Whoopi Goldberg asked Brunson how he resisted retaliating against Victor Wembanyama after the Spurs star shoved Brunson to the ground in Game 3.
“I think it starts, honestly, with my parents, how they raised me,” the Knicks star said. “I’ll start there.
“I wanted to [retaliate] but at the same time, I knew that being a leader, understanding the moment, understanding the situation, you have to keep your composure. No matter when it’s being too high or being too low, you gotta stay even-keeled. That’s something I had for a long time.”
On the play referenced in the interview, there was no call, and Wembanyama avoided a flagrant foul. He had already received two flagrant foul points earlier in the playoffs for elbowing Minnesota’s Naz Reid in the jaw. Had Wembanyama been given a flagrant foul for shoving Brunson, he would’ve been at most one foul away from an automatic suspension.
Controversy surrounding officiating continued throughout the NBA Finals. In Game 1, Brunson had multiple encounters with referee Scott Foster, including one in which Brunson was seen screaming at Foster after a no-call where Brunson took hard contact from Spurs defenders.
Those that Brunson credited with teaching him to keep composure include his father Rick Brunson, the former player who is now an assistant coach with the Knicks. The father-son duo celebrated their championship together after Game 5 on Saturday.
The younger Brunson was asked in the immediate afterglow of the Game 5 win how it felt to win alongside his dad and he hesitated to answer, growing emotional as the weight of the moment overcame him.
“You can see it,” ESPN’s Lisa Salters told him in their live broadcast interview.
“You can see it,” Brunson repeated.
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