MY ACCOUNT
Jalen Brunson is in line for “a lot of money” next season, according to Jason Kidd, after leading the Dallas Mavericks to a vital Game 2 win over the Utah Jazz.
Brunson was again leading the offense for the Mavericks at home to the Jazz as superstar Luka Doncic remained out with a calf injury.
Doncic’s involvement moving forward is still uncertain, meaning the Mavericks needed a team-mate to step up – and Brunson certainly did that with a career-high 41 points in the 110-104 victory that levelled the first-round series.
Playing alongside the ball-dominant Doncic, Brunson’s usage rate has been just 20.4 per cent across his regular season career, but he has had to take control through two games.
After shooting nine-of-24 from the floor in Game 1, including one-of-three from beyond the arc, Brunson found his range on Monday.
The point guard set career highs in field-goal attempts (25, tied with a regular season game also against the Jazz) and makes (15) and three-point attempts (10) and makes (six).
“He didn’t wait,” coach Kidd said. “He took up the space and was aggressive from the jump ball. We talked about it earlier: don’t wait, get to your spot and do what you do best.
“I thought he ran the team extremely well. He found spots to score and he made plays.”
Brunson is in the final year of his rookie contract and will be an unrestricted free agent following the playoffs, putting him in a strong negotiating position on this form.
Asked what money his player could expect to make, Kidd replied: “A lot, a lot. He’s going to make a lot of money. I don’t know if he needs an agent, but I’m going to put my name in the hat.
“But it’s not just what he did tonight and it’s not what he’s going to do going forward, he has already done the work this season. He’s shown he deserves to be paid. He does his job at a very high level and he’s a winner.
“Hopefully he can pay me for that, what I just said.
“He’s a great young man and I’m very lucky to be able to coach him.”
Brunson was not alone in finding joy from three, as Maxi Kleber shot eight-of-11, contributing to 47 attempts from the Mavericks.
On the defensive end, meanwhile, Dallas held the Jazz to 29 attempts after only 22 in Game 1. Utah averaged 40.3 three-point attempts in the regular season, the second-most in the NBA.
“Analytics will say if you’re shooting threes and the other team’s shooting twos, you have a great chance of winning,” Kidd said. “It’s just mathematics.”
Still, the coach is not getting carried away ahead of going on the road for Games 3 and 4.
“We did what we had to do, and that was to win tonight. We were only focused on tonight,” he said.
“Game 1 was over, there was nothing we could do. Now we can rest and get ready for Game 3, understand what’s in front of us, what’s coming.
“It’s going to be a hostile environment; they play extremely well at home. We have to stay together, and we’ve shown that.
“After Game 1, it’s easy to go our separate ways, but all season we’ve been saying this: after bad performances, we tend to bounce back. It’s nothing different; it’s basketball and we bounced back.
“Now we have to find a way to do what they did, and that’s just win one game [on the road].”
