The intensity always shoots up whenever it’s the playoffs, and New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson felt that in one of the most painful ways.
While challenging a jumper by Hawks guard CJ McCollum in the second half of Saturday’s playoff series opener between the Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., Brunson got hit in the groin by McCollum’s right leg.
Brunson immediately went down in clear pain after the contact, and McCollum was later slapped with a technical foul after review.
Here’s a look at that play.
CJ McCollum is hit with a technical foul for striking Jalen Brunson in the groin. Brunson takes a long moment to recover (with replays).
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) April 18, 2026
He gave him the unintentional Draymond Green kick there, OUCH. pic.twitter.com/kJelSudCuk
Brunson spent several minutes trying to shake off the pain. Fortunately for the Knicks, he was able to stay in the game and continue, as New York looks to set the tone in the series.
The former Villanova Wildcats star Brunson is always going to be a big target for opposing defenses, especially in the playoffs. The Hawks couldn’t contain him in the first quarter, where he scored 19 points, the most ever in an opening period of a playoff game by a Knicks player in the play-by-play era, according to ESPN Insights.
McCollum is also an integral part of Atlanta, and he will have to keep it together for the rest of the game, as another technical foul would result in an automatic ejection.
