“That’s the beauty of Jalen as a leader,” Wright, who coached the New Jersey-born Brunson to two NCAA championships at Villanova, told NJ Advance Media at the 92nd annual MBWA All-Met Haggerty Awards Dinner on Thursday.

With Brunson’s dominant fourth quarter in Game 1, he made NBA playoff history as he became just the third player since 1997-98 to score 75 or more points in the fourth quarter through their first seven games of a postseason run. Brunson joins Stephen Curry, who did so in 2023, and Kobe Bryant, who accomplished it in 2008.