Jalen Brunson had just helped the Knicks take the opening game of the NBA Finals. With the cameras rolling and another win added to New York’s remarkable postseason run, the All-Star guard looked prepared for the usual questions about leadership, momentum, and what comes next. Instead, Malika Andrews brought up something Brunson clearly wasn’t expecting.

“Speaking of that focus, the Larry O’Brien Trophy is everywhere,” Andrews said as per a video shared by SportsCenter on X. “It’s ever-present. It’s on the set. It’s next to the court. It’s in rooms that you’re asked to go and shoot promotional videos with. But you wouldn’t go in. You didn’t want to be near the trophy. Why?”

“How’d you hear about that?” Brunson fired back, wearing the kind of smile that revealed both surprise and suspicion.

“Um, it’s….,” he said, pausing for an explanation when pressed further, before continuing several seconds later. “No comment.”

Sensing she still hadn’t reached the end of the story, Andrews floated one final possibility: if New York hoists the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time since 1953, would Brunson finally be willing to talk about it?

“No comment,” was the answer again.

Brunson’s aversion to the trophy is a superstition rooted in a well-worn pattern. The player has followed rituals since his college days, when, like his current playoff run, all he did was win.

He revealed on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon in 2024 that no matter how much he switches up his game-day music, the last song he listens to before running out onto the court is always a Justin Bieber song. Interestingly, this is a tradition dating back to his freshman year at Villanova, when his sister introduced him to Bieber’s album ‘Purpose’. Perhaps those routines stuck because they worked.

In the span of just three years at Villanova, Brunson won two national championships, was named National Player of the Year, and led the Wildcats to a program-record 36 victories in his final season.

When your habits have that kind of track record, you protect them fiercely. And that mindset was on full display when he was named the unanimous 2026 Eastern Conference Finals MVP after averaging 25.5 points and 7.8 assists while guiding New York to its first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.

Even as franchise legends handed him the trophy, Brunson quickly shifted the spotlight elsewhere, crediting his teammates, coaches, and the organization for helping the Knicks reach basketball’s biggest stage. Nothing changed after Game 1 of the Finals.

“Yesterday was cool and obviously we needed it,” said Brunson to Andrews during their interview. “But we got to move on quickly.”

For a moment, it looked like Brunson might be headed for one of his roughest outings of the postseason. The Knicks star managed just one field goal in the opening quarter.

But as he has done so often throughout New York’s playoff run, Brunson responded when the pressure peaked. He erupted for 19 second-half points, including 13 in the final frame, and finished with a game-high 30 to power the Knicks past the Spurs in Game 1.

Jalen Brunson’s mentality despite the win

Despite scoring a game-high 30 points, there is clear scope for improvement. 11 points in the first half, and conceding the team-high 4 turnovers is not how the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals MVP wants to operate.

“Better decision-making,” Brunson told Andrews. “Obviously be as efficient as possible, no turnovers, just give my team a chance to win. The best chance to win.”

If Brunson looked out of rhythm early, there was a good reason for it. The Knicks star survived not one, but two injury scares before taking over Game 1.

The first came in the opening quarter when Harrison Barnes inadvertently crashed into Brunson’s right knee, sending the Knicks captain limping to the locker room for evaluation and a knee brace. He eventually returned with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter, but the concern around his health was far from over.

Moments later, disaster appeared to strike again. Brunson landed awkwardly and had his ankle stepped on by Spurs center Luke Kornet after contesting a drive. The guard immediately yelled in pain. Yet neither setback was enough to keep him off the floor. Brunson responded with his strongest stretch of the night, taking control after halftime and delivering the late-game scoring burst that secured New York’s Game 1 victory.

Head coach Mike Brown later described his star guard as “tough as nails,” adding that Brunson showed no lingering effects during Thursday’s practice. Brunson’s own assessment was even simpler.

“I’ll be all right,” he told Andrews.

That toughness is one reason the 29-year-old has earned such unwavering respect inside the Knicks’ locker room.

“When we all saw him limp off, we were worried not only because he’s Jalen Brunson but more because he’s our brother and we are a family in our locker room,” Karl-Anthony Towns said afterward. “But when I saw him walking back out to the bench, it was a relief just to know he’s safe.”

That approach has carried the Knicks to 12 consecutive playoff victories, tying the second-longest single-season postseason winning streak in NBA history. More importantly, it has moved a franchise burdened by decades of frustration to within three wins of its first championship since 1953.

And through it all, Brunson remains unwilling to discuss the ritual that has followed him throughout this playoff run. For now, the mystery stays intact.

But if the Knicks complete the job and finally bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to New York, Andrews may get the answer she was searching for, and Brunson may finally be ready to share it.