{"id":1977339,"date":"2026-06-07T12:39:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T09:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1977339"},"modified":"2026-06-07T12:39:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T09:39:47","slug":"i-asked-jalen-brunson-about-pressure-to-better-understand-my-own-anxiety-heres-what-he-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1977339","title":{"rendered":"I asked Jalen Brunson about pressure to better understand my own anxiety. Here\u2019s what he said"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Long before that shot<\/a> in Detroit last postseason, prior to scoring 13 points in about seven minutes in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and just earlier than the college national championships, Jalen Brunson \u2014 suppressor of pressure, maestro of chaos \u2014 was a nervous wreck before a high school state championship game.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Yes, Jalen Brunson has been anxious. The man whose superpower is his ability to make the impossible look easy has the same feelings you and I have. The player whose NBA career has been defined by how he rises above moments when most melt \u2014 he sometimes can\u2019t lift the weight of the world off his chest either.<\/p>\n

Brunson, then a senior at Stevenson High School, in Lincolnshire, Ill., had one last chance to conquer the ghosts of Jabari Parker and Jahlil Okafor, both of whom led teams that ended Brunson\u2019s run previously. As a sophomore, Brunson\u2019s team had lost in the state semifinals to powerhouse Simeon Career Academy. As a junior, the star guard, despite a 56-point performance, and his squad had fallen short in the state semifinals to Whitney Young High School. Senior year was it, the last opportunity to back up the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year award, the scholarship offers from every corner of the country and, most importantly, the expectations he put on himself to leave high school as a winner.<\/p>\n

He got it done. Stevenson became state champion. After the win, Brunson told local reporters<\/a> this: \u201cI feel like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. The past three years was tough for me. I feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that Brunson has those<\/em> feelings. The ones that keep some of us up all night. The ones that make us eat a lot, or not at all. The ones that lead to even more thoughts and, therefore, even more worries, creating a casserole of doom. The way Brunson plays basketball appears as if he\u2019s hollow inside. People run from the moments that Brunson not only welcomes but excels in. We\u2019ve seen it game after game. We\u2019ve seen it shot after shot. He\u2019s known as \u201cCaptain Clutch,\u201d and you don\u2019t get that nickname unless you can backhand pressure like a fly over a cookout plate.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

And if you zoom out more, on a professional level, Brunson\u2019s existence is immersed in tension. He\u2019s the face of the New York Knicks, one of the world\u2019s biggest sports brands. It\u2019s a franchise that hasn\u2019t won an NBA championship in 53 years and yet has a fan base that colonizes rival arenas in bulk. Brunson is now looked at as their savior, the unassuming hero who has snatched the Knicks by the collar and lifted them out of the furrows. He has them two wins away from grabbing that elusive trophy after Friday\u2019s nail-biter win in San Antonio<\/a>. That\u2019s<\/em> pressure.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Everywhere he turns, especially right now, there should be a strong sense of angst. But he says there really isn\u2019t. How can that be? I wanted to learn about Brunson\u2019s relationship with pressure and anxiety because, well, I\u2019m in the process of learning about my own relationship with pressure and anxiety. So after a stress-packed Game 2, I asked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI view pressure \u2026 my dad, he was in the league on 10-day contracts and non-guaranteed deals,\u201d Brunson said of his father and Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, who played nine NBA seasons for eight different teams. \u201cBeing able to see that, and getting older and seeing what he had to do (for his family to live), I have it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that thought process that, on Friday night, in the Knicks\u2019 105-104 win<\/a>, allowed Brunson to hit what would become the game-winning free throw. It didn\u2019t matter that he missed the other one, or that he was 7 for 25 from the field on the night. New York won the game. That\u2019s the goal. Brunson can sleep well at night. He\u2019s banked enough credit.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

\u201cYou call it a rough shooting night, I see the free throw to win the game, to give (Mitchell Robinson) a chance to get the stop to win the game,\u201d teammate Karl-Anthony Towns said. \u201cLast game, (Brunson) hit some of the craziest shots I\u2019ve seen to give us a chance to win the game. I don\u2019t see a rough shooting night, I see Captain Clutch doing what he\u2019s always done since I got here. When it comes down to the game, to winning the game, No. 11 can\u2019t be messed with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Anxiety recently hit me like a Brunson jumper in the clutch hits opponents; emphatic and crippling. I\u2019ve dealt with minimal anxiety my entire life, like I\u2019m sure most of you have. Since becoming an adult and joining the work force, though, anxiety has twice put me in a chokehold that has forced me get to know myself better.<\/p>\n

The first time was the summer of 2021, when I was covering the Detroit Pistons. I was inside the team\u2019s practice facility with other media watching the NBA Draft Lottery. Detroit had the best odds at landing the No. 1 pick and what many considered a generational talent in Cade Cunningham. When it was revealed on television that the Pistons won the lottery, the cheers from the employees inside the building who thought their livelihood just improved seeped through the insulated room. My stomach dropped. My heart started racing. I drove to the facility but needed to take an Uber home because my body was too jittery to operate a vehicle. I spent the next two weeks getting three hours of sleep a night. I could only eat pudding or a banana on a good day. My mind was playing tricks on me, telling me, \u201cAll eyes are going to be on you.\u201d This went on for about a month, with a little relief here and there, as the draft and summer league passed by.<\/p>\n

My next bout with crippling anxiety was about a month ago, just before the Knicks started a second-round series against Philadelphia. It was clear to me that New York was going to, at the very least, contend for an NBA championship. My mind\u2019s fascination with telling me \u201call eyes are going to be on you\u201d popped back up. At the same time, I\u2019m understanding my anxiety is both goofy and somewhat egocentric. I didn\u2019t have these worries last year as New York was en route to the Eastern Conference finals. However, anxiety doesn\u2019t always make sense.<\/p>\n

This time I woke up in the middle of the night sweating, my leg unable to stop shaking. The analytical part of my brain was trying to figure out what was going, even though my subconscious knew exactly what was happening. My wandering mind forced me to think of a dozen other reasons this might be happening. In turn, many other anxieties were created on top of the root. It led to an overwhelming feeling that couldn\u2019t be shut down. Off and on for three weeks, I slept two hours here, three hours there. I\u2019d check the time every time my eyes popped open, hoping I was really asleep for six hours. I only grew more anxious and frustrated to learn sometimes I was only sleeping for 90 minutes. I\u2019d be up for good at 2 a.m. after going to bed at midnight, stuck in my thoughts and crawling skin. I barely ate. I walked over 15,000 steps each day not because I was trying to exercise, but because sitting still made me uncomfortable. I had two separate trips to the emergency room.<\/p>\n

Anxiety and pressure impact every person differently. For me, a couple of times, it has put me in a state of panic that is physically debilitating.<\/p>\n

As of today, I\u2019m back to myself. I feel good. Sleeping and eating well. Tomorrow, though, might be different. A week from now might be different. And, you know what? That\u2019s OK. It\u2019s OK to feel anxious. It\u2019s OK to embrace those feelings. Brunson wouldn\u2019t be the player he is today if he didn\u2019t care as much as he did as a high schooler. He wouldn\u2019t be as composed going into the biggest stage of his professional career \u2014 heading back to Madison Square Garden with an entire city praying for a sweep \u2014 if he didn\u2019t have an understanding that people go through way more in their lives than he does dribbling a basketball on someone else\u2019s dime.<\/p>\n

Through therapy, I\u2019ve had to learn about the root of my anxiety and why I feel pressure as a nerd who writes papers for a living. I\u2019ve learned that thoughts are fickle, and that the worst-case scenario almost never happens. I\u2019ve learned to breathe. I\u2019ve learned to lean on loved ones. I\u2019ve learned that bosses and co-workers can be understanding. I\u2019ve learned that tackling the anxiety head on tends to make it disappear \u2014 even if that bouncing leg, tingling arm, racing mind and collapsed chest all tell you to turn back around and go home.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Watching Brunson and the Knicks go through this dominant run has allowed me to draw parallels to my growing relationship with anxiety and better cope with it. The Knicks were down 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round, and the entire basketball world was eager to write them off. New York just decided it wasn\u2019t going to lose again and rallied a village of players and coaches that, together, have brought out the best version of one another. I needed the support of my village to not miss any games, to not miss any flights. Watching Brunson relentlessly try to will New York back into games in fourth quarters, not caring if one shot doesn\u2019t go in because he trusts his work has been a reminder to me to believe in myself and my track record. I\u2019ve been doing this a long time with a lot to show for it. Watching Mike Brown tinker with lineups, strategies and philosophies from one game to the next has made think, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to fail.\u201d I\u2019ve always been afraid to fail.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about being able to say you gave it everything you got,\u201d said Brunson, who told me the most nervous he\u2019s ever been was his wedding day and on draft day because of the unknown of where\u2019d be living and playing, about his thoughts on failure. \u201cKnowing that sometimes you might not get the end result you want, but you know you gave it everything you got. Just control what you can control. If you go out there, put all the preparation and the work in, do everything you can, and you live with the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunson and the Knicks are on the doorstep of doing what 52 Knicks teams before them couldn\u2019t do. On Monday, Madison Square Garden and its congregators are going to greet this special team with a level of enthusiasm even the world\u2019s most famous arena hasn\u2019t seen in half a century. There\u2019s going to be extreme pressure to perform. There\u2019s going to be a rollercoaster of emotions. Minds are going to race. Bodies are going to need to be recalibrated.<\/p>\n

This, though, is the beauty of the sport we all love. It\u2019s the NBA Finals. This is fun.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had to constantly remind myself of the same in order to write for you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Long before that shot in Detroit last postseason, prior to scoring 13 points in about seven minutes in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and just earlier than the college national championships, Jalen Brunson \u2014 suppressor of pressure, maestro of chaos \u2014 was a nervous wreck before a high school state championship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1977339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1977339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1977339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1977339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1977339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}