NBA Scout Says Jalen Brunson's Foul Hunting and Play Style Has 'Caught Up' with Knicks

Through the first week of the NBA playoffs, one thing that has stood out is the lack of ball movement from the New York Knicks in their series with the Detroit Pistons.

Speaking to ESPN's Tim Bontemps, one scout for a Western Conference team thinks that Jalen Brunson's style of play has "caught up" with the Knicks in the playoffs:

"Jalen foul hunting and holding the ball has really caught up with them. There's only so much you can do. That's a recipe to win a lot of regular-season games, but it's a huge load to carry on a nightly basis for playoff-heavy minutes when defenses have adjusted and loaded up. KAT and [OG Anunoby] have to play a role, and it's hard when [Brunson] has the ball in his hands so much of the time."

It does seem like something the Knicks realized after the first two games because things looked much smoother in Game 3 on Thursday night. They had 22 assists on 40 made field goals in 118-116 win after having just 15 on 34 made field goals in their Game 2 loss.

More important than just the assist total was getting Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby involved. Towns made nearly as many shots in Game 3 (10) as he took in all of Game 2 (11). Anunoby had 22 points and went 3-of-8 from three in 43 minutes.

Brunson's assist totals in the series have been in line with what he was doing in the regular season. He's averaging 8.0 assists per contest in three games against the Pistons, but the amount of whistles he's drawn has been the bigger story.

No one will argue that Brunson should be the main driving force of offense for the Knicks, but a big part of the reason they traded for Towns was to open things up so he wouldn't have to shoulder as much of the burden.

One reason the Knicks lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Indiana Pacers last year was because of the amount of injuries they suffered in the playoffs. Brunson dealt with a foot injury early in the series, then fractured his hand in Game 7.

Before the injuries took their toll on Brunson's body, he had four straight games with at least 40 points. It was close to five straight 40-point games because he had 39 in Game 3 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

If the Knicks can continue to build on what worked for them in Game 3 on Thursday night, they should be able to make it past a Pistons team that can't match their talent.