For the most part, Boston Celtics stopper Jrue Holiday liked what he’d seen from his team’s defense on Knicks star Jalen Brunson.Entering Game 4 of their second-round series, Brunson led both teams with 24.3 points and 6.3 assists per game, and he’d fueled a pair of come-from-behind Knicks victories.But Brunson’s 38.1% field-goal percentage was about 10 points lower than his regular-season rate.“I think we’ve done alright,” said Holiday, the Celtics’ primary defender on Brunson, ahead of Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.“I definitely think it’s a team effort. Everybody’s kind of had a chance to guard him here and there, and done a good job, I think. Sometimes in the first two games, in the fourth [quarter], he does what he does, but I think we’ve been taking care of it as good as possible.”In Games 1 through 3, Brunson shot 5-of-18 (27.8%) when guarded by Holiday, according to the NBA’s head-to-head tracking.Brunson shot 3-of-9 (33.3%) against Derrick White and went 6-of-18 (33.3%) against veteran center Al Horford, who was frequently tasked with slowing the Knicks point guard on switches.Brunson was more efficient against Payton Pritchard, against whom he made 5-of-9 (55.6%) field goals.“He’s gonna find opportunities to really impact the game throughout the entire game, but we just trust our individual defenders and our help behind them,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said of Brunson.“I think Jrue’s done a great job on him. I think Derrick and Payton have done a good job. I think Al’s been good on him. So we just try to trust our individual defenders, trust the help behind, and when and if you need to make adjustments, you try to do that as quickly as possible.”Brunson, the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year, came up big when it mattered most in Games 1 and 2 in Boston.In Game 1, Brunson scored 11 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks overcome a 20-point deficit and win 108-105 in overtime.He was similarly effective down the stretch of Game 2, scoring nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Knicks again erased a 20-point deficit and won 91-90.Brunson also led the Knicks with 27 points on 9-of-21 shooting in their 115-93 loss in Game 3.But Brunson shot 42.9% or lower from the field in all three games.“No hesitation,” Brunson said before Game 4. “We’ve got to trust our process, trust our shot. We’ll live with the result. We’ve just got to control what we can control.”Brunson scored 31.5 points per game in the first round against the Detroit Pistons — a series in which he averaged 9.0 free-throw attempts per game. In the regular season, Brunson ranked fifth in the NBA with 6.9 free-throw attempts per game.The Celtics limited him to 18 total free-throw attempts through the first three games of their series.“Try not to foul him,” said Holiday, a six-time NBA All-Defensive team selection. “Know that he lives at the free-throw line and does a great job of drawing fouls. Try to keep him off the free-throw line as much as possible. And then show him multiple bodies.”Brunson is hardly the only star whose shooting percentages have dipped during the playoffs, when the style of play is often more physical.The Celtics’ Jayson Tatum entered Monday shooting 39.5% this postseason, compared to 45.2% in the regular season.Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — the NBA’s leading scorer — was shooting 43.6% this postseason after making 51.9% of his field goals during the regular season.“I think that tends to be the case,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Any time you’re putting more than one onto the ball, that means other guys are going to be open. You’re weighing how much are you going to commit to that? And then that opens things up for other players.”
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