WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Yankees’ captain regrets not having more opportunities to watch the Knicks’ captain play, though he has been impressed with the performances he has managed to see.
Other than Games 3 and 6 in the NBA playoffs’ first round — both held in Detroit — the Knicks’ playoff matches have all clashed with the Yankees’ schedule.
On Saturday, while the Yankees were competing on the opposite coast, the Knicks played Game 3 of their second-round series against the Celtics at the Garden, where they unfortunately faced a decisive 115-93 defeat.
“It’s been tough to catch a game,” Judge said before Saturday’s 11-7 loss to the A’s at Sutter Health Park. “But I’ve been seeing the highlights, seeing what they’re doing.
It’s impressive, especially going up against Boston. They just won it, the former champs.
“And for [the Knicks] to have a two-game lead, it’s pretty impressive. They’ve been up. They’ve been down big. Come back with some great clutch plays at the end on the offensive side and defensive side. I wish we could catch a game.”
Judge met Jalen Brunson last year when Brunson threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a game in The Bronx.
Arguably the two most popular athletes in New York talked on the field for several minutes, not enough time to truly get to know each other but enough time for Brunson to make an impression.
“Seems like a great guy,” said Judge, who himself was a high school basketball star in Northern California. “He also had his whole family there, which I think speaks volumes about the type of person he is. He’s a family man.
“He was just cool, calm and collected on the field, which is kind of how he is out there on the basketball court.”
In some ways, Judge and Brunson are similar as players who established themselves as standouts before pushing themselves to a different echelon.
Judge — an All-Star and Rookie of the Year in his second taste of the majors — essentially has eliminated any weakness from his game over the years and now is better compared with the legends from the past than his own contemporaries.
The superstar, who hit two home runs in Saturday’s loss, enters Sunday with the slash line triple crown, leading the majors in average (.396), on-base percentage (.486) and slugging percentage (.772).
His 14 home runs and 37 RBIs are tops, too, as he tries to outdo his historic, 62 home runs in 2022 and an even more impressive 2024, which he finished with a 1.159 OPS.
Brunson was a complementary player with the Mavericks, a second-round pick out of Villanova who worked his way from a bench piece to become Luka Doncic’s wing man.
He then signed with the Knicks in 2022 and unlocked a new level of stardom.
This year, a former second banana has carried a formerly woebegone franchise past the Pistons and has threatened to do the unthinkable in knocking off the Celtics.
The Clutch Player of the Year lifted the Knicks back from 20-point deficits in Games 1 and 2, with Brunson’s free throws putting his team over the top in the second game.
Entering Saturday’s Game 3 — at which senior Yankees adviser Omar Minaya sat courtside — Brunson was averaging 29.4 points and 7.6 assists in eight playoff games.
“He’s a quiet assassin,” Judge said of Brunson, who scored 27 points but struggled in the Knicks’ Game 3 loss. “He goes out there, does his job. … It’s pretty impressive to see and fun to watch, especially in New York.”
