Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce once said he had a clutch gene. That he was born with the ability to rise to the occasion when the game matters most.
Knicks star Jalen Brunson, a premier crunch-time performer in his own right, agrees performing under pressure can be in someone’s DNA.
“I think that it’s something that’s — it’s a thing, for sure,” Brunson said after Knicks practice in Tarrytown on Friday. “Some people are born with it, some people work for it. It comes with your confidence, it comes with your work ethic, it comes with being able to breathe and have that moment of not being flustered. A lot of things go into that. He definitely had that, Paul Pierce definitely had it.”
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was an assistant on the Celtics staff while Pierce was a star in Boston. Thibodeau said Pierce had something in common with Knicks legend Patrick Ewing, who Thibodeau coached in an earlier stint as an assistant in New York.
“The thing that stood out is he went through his own workout two hours before the rookies and then he watched the rookies work out and then he eventually joined the rookies,” Thibodeau recalled. “I think it goes back to what gives you that [clutch] gene. I think a big part of that is the confidence you get from preparation.”
Thibodeau said Pierce’s ability to hit big shots under pressure wasn’t an accident.
“All those shots he hit, I can remember him a million times in practice, working on every one of those things,” Thibodeau said. “He too had an incredible drive and when you couple that with [Celtics teammates Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen], that made that group incredible.”
Brunson said he loves big moments.
“I mean, why else do you work hard?” he said. “Why else do you want to do things like this? I mean, you work for moments like these and now it’s just time to go out there and just focus on Game 1 and see what we got.”
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Thibodeau said he doesn’t want to compare Brunson to other Knicks legends until his career is over, but the head coach made it clear the All-Star guard is rapidly climbing the ranks of franchise greats.
“It’s probably easier to have that conversation when someone is done and you look at it in totality to say this is what he accomplished,” he said. “I know how lucky I’ve been. I’ve been around a lot of great players, whether it be Patrick [Ewing] or David Robinson or Dikembe [Mutombo] and Garnett, Pierce, Ray Allen. And Derrick [Rose]. I’m sure I’m leaving a lot of guys off.
“But I think when you get to that level, it’s a very unique and special level. You’re talking the top of the top.”
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For two teams who meet so frequently in the regular season, the Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers don’t have much recent playoff history.
The Knicks and Sixers haven’t met in the playoffs since 1989, when Ewing, Charles Oakley and Mark Jackson swept Philly in three games.
There weren’t even cameraphones yet when the Knicks and Sixers last played, let alone social media, or a seven-game series in each round of the playoffs.
“For younger older folks like myself, you think back to like when you were growing up, it always seemed like New York and Philly and Chicago were always on TV,” Thibodeau said Friday. “It was a different world back then but that’s the beauty of the league. You have two great basketball cities.”
Playoff victories against the Sixers have come few and far between for a Knicks team boasting just a 12-21 postseason record against Philadelphia.
The Knicks won the season series against Philly, 3-1.
They are 208-264 against the 76ers all-time.
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The only difference between regular-season Josh Hart and playoff Josh Hart?
Less wine. More basketball.
“I’m not drinking as much wine, so I guess that’s my playoff mode,” Hart, a wine enthusiast, said after practice on Friday. “Taking a little break off from some vino. But, that’s about it. It’s business as usual. I’m in this position for a reason. I’m not going to change up too much stuff. Maybe some diet stuff, to make sure that I have that energy.”
