Mike Brown doesn’t watch much college basketball. The Knicks’ head coach is more likely to spend his Saturdays locked into NCAA football than tracking the next wave of collegiate hoopers. So when Jalen Brunson was carving out a legacy at Villanova — winning national championships in 2016 and 2 018 — he did so well beyond Brown’s line of sight. “I had no clue [he could become this player] when he was in college,” Brown recalled on Sunday. “Obviously he was a good player because he won two national championships. You knew he was a good player because he starts and is impacting the game at the highest level.” Those days of anonymity are long gone. Brunson is now prime time — appointment viewing, the kind of player opponents build game plans around and coaches lose sleep over. It’s a reality Brown first absorbed from afar while serving as defensive coordinator for the Golden State Warriors, charged with slowing down a then-emerging guard from the Dallas Mavericks during the playoffs. Brown is now retaking that same class. Only this time, he’s seated courtside, watching from the front row as his All-Star point guard and Most Valuable Player candidate delivers seminar after seminar. Class was officially in session Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Call it a 47-point masterclass from Dr. Brunson, who surgically dismantled the Miami Heat to lead the Knicks to a 132-125 victory. The Knicks star guard shot 15-of-26 from the field, 6-of-13 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 11-of-11 at the free-throw line. It marked the most points Brunson has ever scored at home as a Knick and his 20th 40-point performance in orange and blue — 21 if you count his 40-point NBA Cup Final outburst against the San Antonio Spurs, a game the league quietly excludes from official stat tallies. “He’s a special player,” said Karl-Anthony Towns. “I think we all know that. It doesn’t surprise you when he has nights like that.” Yet while other coaches say Brunson’s ascent came from left field, Brown remembers the early signs. Back on the West Coast, during those bruising postseason battles, he came to a realization: The Mavericks had something special on their hands. Something they ultimately let walk away for nothing as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2022. To survive, Brown turned to his ultimate defensive chess piece — Draymond Green. Without him, the Warriors would have been forced into constant double teams, a concession that would have unraveled their defensive structure. “He was a terror back then. We had to double team him. So I knew he was a really good player,” Brown recalled. “Being able to coach him, plus he’s older now, you get to see all the other stuff. His work ethic, how competitive he is, the confidence, all that other stuff, but back then, he was a problem. He was a problem.” A few years later — and a few thousand miles east — Brunson has transformed from playoff nuisance into household name. He’s a lock to be an All-Star. A candidate for a second straight First Team All-NBA nod. And, if Brown has his way, a leading MVP contender for a Knicks team sitting in the East’s second seed with a 20-8 record after Sunday’s win over Miami. That victory doesn’t happen without Brunson. He poured in 27 points in the first half alone, erasing an early 10-point deficit. He sent the Knicks into halftime with a four-point lead after burying a step-back three over Jaime Jaquez Jr. “When you’re struggling offensively, you want to have an MVP of the league on your side, and for him to score 47, especially [as efficient as he was], while dishing out eight assists, I have to mention it: That’s what he’s capable of doing and that’s what MVP’s are supposed to do on nights like tonight,” Brown said. Brunson checked back in midway through the fourth quarter. Brown was hoping he wouldn’t have to turn to him again. But that’s not how these games tend to go. You take a good player off the floor, things can wobble. You take an MVP candidate off the floor? A double-digit lead can evaporate in minutes. That’s exactly what happened Sunday, when the Heat sliced a comfortable cushion into a two-possession game while Brunson watched from the bench. Brown’s intention was clear. After Brunson averaged roughly 40 minutes per game during the Knicks’ three-game NBA Cup run, the head coach wanted to pull back — just a bit. Technically, he did. Brunson logged 38 minutes against Miami. Practically, the Knicks needed every single one of them. “You try to sit him as long as you can, but if you feel the game slipping, it’s my job to help us win the best way possible,” Brown said. “It’s just a matter of I know we’re in a little funk right now that we’ve gotta keep fighting to get out of and get our feet back underneath us. “Me throwing him out there is saying, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta go get this game.’ I tried to sit him as long as I can. Let’s go get this game.” Brown pulled the lever he knew would stop the bleeding. Brunson delivered — again — because that’s what stars do and what MVP candidates are paid to handle. Sometimes load management meets reality. And reality, for the Knicks right now, still runs through No. 11. Even if no one saw it coming —except for maybe the coach who had to scheme against him years ago. ...read more read less