Can the Knicks and the East Contend?

Jalen Brunson scored a season-high 40 points in the New York Knicks’ 132-120 NBA Cup semifinal game against the Orlando Magic Saturday night, making 16-of-27 shots.

That included just two 3-pointers against the Magic’s notoriously physical defense, notes Knicks beat writer James Edwards III of The Athletic. Meanwhile, the Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns had 29 points, and OG Anunoby scored 24. The Knicks overall shot a season-high 61 percent.

Knicks head coach Mike Brown was adamant following the game that Brunson be entered into Most Valuable Player discussions, ESPN reported.

Now the Knicks will face the San Antonio Spurs, winners of Saturday night’s other semifinal matchup, in the NBA Cup Final on Tuesday.

Potentially bigger than advancing in the NBA Cup, however, is that New York has now evened the season record against Orlando at 2-2, says Edwards. Which means that if the teams were to finish the regular season with the same record, the Magic would no longer have the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The victory also gives the Knicks a chance to show that they’re not only a real contender in the East but also for an NBA title, Edwards said. This would have been especially true if their NBA Cup Final opponent was the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder. But the Spurs’ victory last night prevented that.

Either way the Knicks still haven’t played a top five team in the West yet, and now they will do so against the Spurs.

While not anywhere close to the intensity and importance of the NBA Finals, the NBA Cup Final will give Knicks fans other valuable context, according to Edwards. Namely, if the best two teams in this year’s lesser-regarded Eastern Conference can be competitive with any of the top five teams in the West on a somewhat meaningful stage.

In the 111-109 Spurs-Thunder game last night, a returning Victor Wembanyama helped push San Antonio to victory with 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. All in 21 minutes on the court, with 15 points coming in the fourth quarter alone.

The Spurs were 21 points better than the Thunder when Wembanyama—who received his own MVP chants from fans in Las Vegas Saturday night—was in the game. And 19 worse when he wasn’t.