Knicks fans are hoping to break their 53-year championship drought, knowing a title would also silence one of Jalen Brunson’s biggest critics.
Yet even with New York officially in the Finals, Becky Hammon still isn’t ready to admit she was wrong.
Brunson has already played his way into Gotham lore, spearheading the franchise’s first playoff series victory since 2013 in his debut season and now leading the Knicks to their first Finals appearance in 27 years.
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Still, fans are waiting for Hammon to eat crow after she questioned whether the guard could truly be the No. 1 player on a championship-caliber team.
She’s not quite there yet.
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When asked recently if she was willing to take back her past comments, the Las Vegas Aces coach stood her ground:
“I speak from experience. Allen Iverson got MVP, and he lost in the Finals. I think the two best teams are probably in the West, but I’m up for being proven wrong.
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“That’s the other thing. I think Jalen Brunson’s a hell of a player, a hell of a player. I’m speaking historically on the NBA with what I said.
“I don’t know why everybody’s so stuck on that. I said it two years ago. I said what I said. If he proves me wrong, he proves me wrong.”
To understand why fans are still so hung up on it, you have to revisit Hammon’s original “brass tacks” assessment of the Knicks’ ceiling:
“They don’t have enough personnel, they don’t have the manpower that they need to hang with those guys.
“I think you’re going to get a consistent team like they’ve been. They’re a pretty good team.
“They’re well-coached, they’re going to be on their defensive game, but at the end of the day, they don’t have a dude.
“You gotta have a 1A dude, and they’re missing that at the end of the day if we’re just getting down to brass tacks.”
At the time, Hammon’s comments reflected a common belief around the NBA … that Brunson was talented, tough and reliable, but not the type of superstar capable of carrying a franchise to a championship.
Now, Brunson is one of the biggest reasons the Knicks are four wins away from ending decades of heartbreak.
The truth is, unless Brunson wins a championship for New York, Hammon’s skepticism will continue to shadow him. But if Brunson brings a title back to the Big Apple, Hammon’s comments won’t age well. He would not only prove her wrong, but he’d cement himself as a Knicks legend forever.
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