https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1628973/defense-dash?PerMode=Totals

https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1628973/head-to-head

Small sample through two games, but the Hawks have been taking full advantage of switches to target Brunson.

The Hawks so far are ¹⁸⁄₃₄ from the field including ⁸⁄₁₂ from inside ten feet with Brunson as the defender.

McCollum and Alexander-Walker have 33 points on ¹³⁄₁₉ shooting when Brunson is guarding them.

In last nights game, the Hawks got 1.77 points per drive when Brunson was guarding the ball-handler.

ositola | Lakers

72 | 5 hours ago

This is always who brunson has been

The bigger issue is the Knicks offense goes to shitty iso ball in the fourth

braddeus | Heat

43 | 4 hours ago

In year 4, nobody in NY has considered that maybe Brunson dribbling the air out of the ball for 17 seconds isn’t a sustainable offense

GoldenBoyRecords | Knicks

29 | 4 hours ago

Brunson doesn’t trust the system or players around him come crunch time and falls into the comfort zone of “I will do it myself” despite the Hawks having no real answer for KAT. We literally had KAT in the corner for the final 5 mins of the game. Brunson has to sacrifice his play style for the betterment of the team. He struggles to do this late in games.

KelvinHuerter

4 | 2 hours ago

I mean it’s hard to argue his value on the court when he’s not dominating the ball

avroLancasterBPR1 | NBA

12 | 4 hours ago

It doesnt matter if 20 million people in NY figure that out, if Brunson isnt one of them aint shit changing

brnccnt7

3 | an hour ago

That’s how it always goes, he’s a likeable guy so they tolerate it and fans are in awe of it when it works

But when it doesn’t, it’s ugly and shows they need an entire new offense and someone needs to tell Brunson to start being an actual point guard down the stretch

THISISDAM | Knicks

1 | 30 minutes ago

And everyone knows it!

Easy_Magician_925

-1 | 5 hours ago

Yeah. Nothing new. He is an unatheletic midgit.

clownus | Knicks

-1 | 2 hours ago

Brunson got hunted for a bunch of 2s.

Knicks went a whopping 2-10 from 3 and failed to score for 2mins straight.

Issue was their offense forgetting how to play not Brunson getting hunted.

If the Knicks get blown out for 4 quarters sure this is a problem. But them blowing a lead is just Knicks basketball in a nutshell.

Cynical_badger | Knicks

-6 | 4 hours ago

Brunson hand the hot hand in fourth and no one else was doing anything. The real issue is Atlanta only has 1 player that can create any offense and Mike Brown just let him teabag us instead of making a single adjustment.

DisMeDog

9 | 3 hours ago

He had the hot hand because nobody is ever in rhythm because he is so ball dominant. Dudes are putting up 2-3 shots a quarter of course they aren’t doing anything in the fourth.

Cynical_badger | Knicks

3 | 3 hours ago

That sums up our offense for the last 4 years though. It is what it is at this point. Allowing 6’3” 34 year old CJ McCollum to singlehandedly cook the entire team is way more egregious imo.

doordaesh | Super 8

4 | 3 hours ago

isn’t that part of why they switched up the coaching staff though?

Cynical_badger | Knicks

1 | 3 hours ago

I dunno, they fired Thibs with no real replacements in mind. I always assumed Mike Brown was just a placeholder till Leon Rose poached a real coach.

sh0tgunben | Hornets

64 | 5 hours ago

JBrunson is not a good defender

cricket9818 | Knicks

27 | 4 hours ago

Breaking news: known poor on ball defender Jalen Brunson is still a poor on ball defender

Handyman2116 | Hawks

24 | 5 hours ago

Nice to be on the other side of this

dptraynor

18 | 5 hours ago

Jalen “Little Trae Young” Brunson

Overkillemall | Lakers

9 | 5 hours ago

I don’t know if it’s recency bias, but I have a feeling coaches brought back purposely hunting down weak defenders, especially stars. I mean, not like it was gone or it is something new, of course not, so “bright back” is probably not the best phrase to describe it, but I feel like this year many teams make this even more intentional and more intense than in the last several years. But maybe it’s just a coincidence, the sample is still too small

JaceGhost | Knicks

10 | 4 hours ago

This has been common strategy for at least 10 years but focus shifted from getting quick guards on plodding centers to tall scorers on smaller defenders because teams play smaller and longer and shotmaking is frankly, way better than it was a decade ago.

Justalittlejewish | Celtics

8 | 5 hours ago

I think there might be some truth to this. It’s a copycat league, and the Celtics just won a ring 2 years ago more or less centering their entire offense around aggressively hunting mismatches.

No-Sign2135

6 | 3 hours ago

Heat Celtics rivalry w/ Jimbo used to be entirely based on this too haha. Miss those battles. Hope we see y’all again soon.

But like OP is saying, its not entirely new per se. Bron been doing this for like a quarter of a century now too (crazy lol). Jokic, Luka, etc all hunt for mismatches too. Analytics culture may have placed more of a recent emphasis on this though - like Shemptacular pointed out below too.

Shemptacular | Pacers

9 | 4 hours ago

Almost like the “only take high percentage shots” scheme elided the fact that a midrange taken vs JB is actually statistically different than a midrange taken against Wemby

Horns8585 | Mavericks

8 | 4 hours ago

I don’t think coaches ever went away from this. They have always targeted weaker defenders….even stars.

Nuclearsunburn | Heat

5 | 3 hours ago

We got blown out in record fashion by the Cavs last year round 1 with them relentlessly hunting Tyler Herro. We tried hunting Darius Garland (who might be a worse defender tbh) but Cleveland has firepower all up and down their roster and we just don’t. But the whole series was basically just a hunting expedition

Forsaken_Abroad_6220 | Knicks

10 | 3 hours ago

CJ might end up being the best player in this series

WooTerry | Thunder

6 | 4 hours ago

More news at 6

axnjxn00 | Magic

7 | 4 hours ago

Breaking: Jalen Brunson is a poor defender

Vicentesteb | Timberwolves

6 | 3 hours ago

This is why Brunson’s offensive excellence isn’t that impactful. The Knicks get absolutely ran through on defense with him out there denting a big part of the crazy good scoring games he tends to have.

No-Alternative2897

4 | 4 hours ago

Brunson needs to use that big head of his

fps129 | Knicks

1 | 3 hours ago

It’s the playoffs. You can’t win 16 in a row. Brunson has his flaws. It lost us the games His strengths win us way more playoff games.

It’s a strong game 2, gg. Now it’s a best of 5, we ball.

The Hawks through the first two games are shooting 53 percent (34 attempts) when Jalen Brunson is the primary defender