He wanted Jalen Brunson defending him down the stretch of his Atlanta Hawks’ Game 2 victory over the Knicks in their first-round playoff series.
Asked point blank if he liked what he had in that matchup, McCollum replied, “What do you think?” He then nodded and repeated the reporter’s answer in the affirmative.
McCollum, 34, scored two key baskets against Brunson in the final 2:08 of the Hawks’ series-tying 107-106 win at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. Through two games, McCollum is shooting 9-for-12 when defended by Brunson.
That matchup will again be under the microscope as the series shifts to Atlanta’s State Farm Arena for Game 3 on Thursday night.
“We can talk to him. We can do those kinds of things, let him know where to force the ball,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said of Brunson after Wednesday’s practice.
“But at the end of the day, he has to take pride in it. Just knowing him, I’m sure watching the film, he was probably frustrated at some of the spots CJ was able to get to. … I know the kind of guy he is, the kind of character he is. He’ll be better defensively for us.”
On both of those late-game possessions Monday night, Mikal Bridges started on McCollum. But both times, Nickeil Alexander-Walker set a screen for McCollum at the top of the key, prompting Brunson to switch onto the speedy guard.
McCollum’s driving lay-up with 2:08 remaining gave Atlanta a 101-100 lead. His floater on the next possession made it a 103-100 game.
“He was in a great rhythm,” Brunson, 29, said afterward. “I’ve got to disrupt it, make him play on his heels, make him react to me defensively. He was just in a rhythm.”
Acquired in the January trade that sent longtime Knicks adversary Trae Young to Washington, the chatty McCollum has himself emerged as New York’s latest sports villain during this series.
He scored a game-high 32 points on Monday night and is averaging 29.0 points per game on 54.8% shooting overall.
“[Brunson has] guarded [Jonathan] Kuminga, CJ, Alexander-Walker and [Dyson] Daniels. He’ll guard Gabe [Vincent], if Gabe’s on the floor, as well,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said Wednesday.
“At the end of the game, what they’re gonna do, obviously — and what they did last game — they’re gonna bring Jalen up into a pick-and-roll, and we’ve just got to make sure we keep giving them different looks.”
This has been an uneven series for the even-keeled Brunson, who set the tone in the Knicks’ 113-102 win in Game 1 with 19 points in the first quarter.
But in the seven quarters since then, Brunson has shot 11-of-37 (29.7%) from the field, with Daniels and Alexander-Walker serving as his primary defenders. With about 15 seconds remaining Monday and the Knicks down by two, Alexander-Walker stripped Brunson, leading to a crucial change of possession.
Overall, Brunson is averaging 28.5 points per game on 39.6% shooting in the series.
“We’ve just got to keep trying to move him around and give him different looks throughout the course of the game,” Brown said.
Of course, Brunson has rebounded from slow playoff stretches in the past. Last year, Brunson shot 38.1% over the first three games of the Knicks’ second-round series against the Boston Celtics, only to erupt for 39 points on 14-of-25 shooting in Game 4.
Brunson’s performance on both ends Thursday will go a long way in deciding the Game 3 outcome.
“You’ve got four guys that [are] behind him, that [are] gonna help him,” Knicks forward Mikal Bridges said. “Just know [the] personnel, who we guard and how we guard them, and then do your best to stay in front. You’ve got help behind you.”