Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns & Mike Brown Celebrate NBA Finals Victory, React to Superstitions

-Our first guests are NBA champions and New York legends.

One is the NBA finals MVP, one is a six-time all-star center, and the other is the coach that got them to the finish line.

They helped lead the New York Knicks to their first NBA title in 53 years.

Please welcome, from the world champion New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Coach Mike Brown.

-♪ I'm with the New York Knicks ♪ ♪ Championship New York Knicks ♪ ♪ Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks ♪ ♪ Got to go to the New York Knicks ♪ ♪ Unh, got me on that New York tip ♪ ♪ Yeah, I'm on the New York Knicks ♪ ♪ The world champion New York Knicks ♪ ♪ Give it up for the New York Knicks ♪ ♪♪ -Wow.

You feel the love! You feel -- -MVP! -You feel the love!

-Wow. MVP right here. Come on. Oh, my gosh.

Uh, thank you for being here.

And thank you -- Thank you for being here.

And thank you for bringing a championship to New York!

Uh, Jalen, last time you were on the show, I said, "When the Knicks win the championship, will you bring the trophy here?"

And you're a man of your word. Here it is right here.

-We brought it in. -You won the championship.

-We brought it in. -Come on.

Has it -- Has it sunk in yet?

Is it all surreal or...? -No, it hasn't sunk in yet.

It's, um...

I don't know if it will for a while, but just, the opportunity presented itself.

We went out there as a team. We found a way to do it.

Um... Fighting back all those games.

And, um, it was worth it.

-Yeah. -It was well worth it.

-Yeah, it was.

You were on fire. You were unbelievable.

Uh, Kat, you weren't so bad yourself, bud, by the way.

-I appreciate it. Thank you. -Yeah.

Thank you.

-You... They love you.

You had a historic postseason.

When you were on the floor, the Knicks outscored their opponents by a total of 258 points.

That broke a record long held by Steph Curry.

Come on, Kat! Come on, Kat!

The world already knew that you were one of the best players in the league, but did you know that you were gonna play that well?

-Uh, yeah. -Yeah, yeah, yeah, you did.

I mean, you were incredible out there.

Coach Brown, this is your first season with the Knicks.

Uh...

Not too -- not too shabby.

Not too shabby. -Mike! Mike! Mike! Mike! Mike!

-One and done. -When -- -Mike! Mike! Mike! Mike! Mike!

-Mike! Mike! Mike! -Oh, my God.

Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. Yeah, that's -- That's -- Yeah. When did you realize that you had a -- that you had a championship team?

When did it feel like it?

-You know, when I was -- Before my interview process, 'cause, you know, you have to obviously prepare for the interview, and during that, you see the different guys that you have that make up this team, and you're like, "We might have a chance at this thing.

You know, we don't -- I don't need to say anything now.

Just let the process be what it's gonna be."

But knowing going into it, you really -- I really felt like we had an opportunity.

-Yeah. And you -- You did a great job.

-Thank you.

-Also, like, the whole team is great.

Even the guys on the bench are great.

-Awesome. Awesome. -I loved everyone.

-Yes, yeah.

-I've had -- You guys have been on the show before.

Thank you very much for being a guests on my show.

First time for you.

But I went to a few games, and they sat me real close.

They sat me too close, to be honest.

I was very close to you guys. I was sitting next to you, and it was stressing me out to see actually how you coach a game and how you play in real life.

And you didn't make eye contact with me once.

You just -- you were focused on winning, and I love that, and I respect that.

But you're yelling out plays, and I'm honestly -- here's -- here's where I was sitting, if you can see.

Do you see me there?

That's me jumping up.

And that's -- that's the team right there.

That's the coach. That's Anthony Goenaga there.

And you're running back and forth, and, Coach, you're running back and forth, and my feet stick out like that, and I was like, "I just don't want to trip you."

And then, yeah, but you were going out.

I remember I was at game one of this season and, Jalen, I think you fouled somebody, and you went to challenge it, and you go, "Stop!

I'm gonna challenge!" And, Jalen, you looked at your coach, you go, "No, I did it."

"No, don't -- don't challenge. Don't challenge that. I did it."

I was like, "Okay."

But I was right in the mix, and I'm like, "How --" When the crowd gets so loud, I mean, these are the greatest fans on Earth.

-Yes! Yes, yes.

-I mean, those comeback games, I have to ask, is it -- is it -- -We love you, Jalen!

Is it distracting or is it helpful when they're that loud?

Like, 'cause you can't hear each other.

-No, it's helpful. 100%. -Sure.

-It is.

-There's a couple times I can hear you yelling, you're like, "No, no, no!" and then you're going, "I can't hear you!", and you're both yelling at each other.

I'm like, "Oh, my gosh." But it was electric.

The Garden was bouncing, the Garden was shaking.

-Literally. -Literally.

-It felt like that. It was -- When we get the fans involved and we give them something to cheer for, it's something special, it's something one in a lifetime.

-There's different reasons of why everyone thinks the Knicks won this year.

Everyone has different superstitions.

One of them is that, Karl, your fiancée's, uh, bag.

When she brings the bag -- when she brings the bag, it's good luck.

-What do you want me to say?

We were undefeated in the playoffs with it, so...

Obviously, she -- she made some magic when she made that Woods by Jordan bag, for sure.

-Yeah.

All right. So maybe. -Yeah, yeah.

-But then there's a there's a WWE wrestler, Danhausen, who "uncursed" the Knicks.

And, apparently, after he uncursed the Knicks, you guys won every single game.

Uh, yeah.

Jalen, I know that you -- you are a WWE fan.

Did this have something to do with it, as well?

-At first, um...

I was a little skeptical, but, I mean, you have to believe it now. -Okay. Yeah.

Now you gotta believe it. -You have to believe it now.

-It did work. Jalen, you scored 45 points in a championship-winning game.

-MVP! MVP! MVP! -Yes, yes, yes.

-MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!

-But Mi-- Michael -- -MVP! MVP!

-Can't even talk. All right, all right!

I can't talk.

Michael Jordan is the only other player in history to do that.

-Wow, wow, wow.

-What does it feel like when you go down the street or you see this billboard in New York City of Clyde Frazier passing the ball to Jalen Brunson?

-That's great. -Is that cool?

-That's crazy That's, um...

-That's pretty cool, right? -That's really cool.

I mean, getting -- getting -- being able to know him and talk to him over the last couple years, you just see the joy he has watching us.

And just very thankful of the relationship that we have.

Um, he means a lot to this community, the Knicks community and us.

And just, uh, he's a pleasure to be around.

-Yeah. He's always there for you guys.

We talked before when you were on the show.

Before the game, you told me you listen to Justin Bieber, and, uh, I was wondering if that's still the case.

And during the playoffs, do you switch up the playlist, or is it still Bieber?

-Um, before the games, I switch it up every now and then, but, like, right before -- or, after Mike does his pregame, um, talk, um, has to be Bieber right before I run out.

-I love that. You're loyal.

-I can verify this. -Yeah, right? Yeah, exactly.

He's gotta get it. -Oh, yeah, I can verify it.

-You had a great quote, by the way.

It was very emotional. I loved the ending.

It was probably, all thoughts are running through your head when you're running on the court and talking to all these reporters.

But you, Jalen, you said a great quote.

You said, "The game starts at 8:30.

We start playing at 9:00."

That made me laugh. That was so funny.

That was great.

-I mean, it seems funny, but, I mean...

-It's not, yeah.

Coach is like, "That's not funny."

-He wasn't -- he wasn't too happy about it.

-He's not laughing, no, yeah.

-He stresses every game. He goes, "Come on.

We got to start the first quarter better than the last one," and we're like, "No, we ain't.

Its not starting any better."

-And then, Coach Brown, you started leading the team with a different song, "Who Let the Dogs Out," by the Baja Men.

Why is that song -- -We got to put that to bed.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -You got to put that to bed.

-Where did that come from? -Oh, Lord.

-Was that something you -- -This is a story. So, I got two boys.

-You know what? We need the story, as well.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -We both need to hear this.

-I was an assistant in San Antonio many moons ago.

The reporter that asked me that question, he said, "What did you learn during your time here when you coached the 7-year-old Dogs flag football team?"

-Ah. -And so I said, I said -- "I learned to cheer."

'Cause we used to have all the parents come into the huddle, all the kids come into the huddle before every game.

We put -- everybody put their hands in, right, right?

We're gonna practice it. Everybody do this.

-Oh, my God. -Put your hands in.

Put your hands in. And then I'd go, "1, 2, 3."

I go, "Who let the dogs out?! Who, who, who who!

Who let the dogs out?

Who, who, who who!" -Don't leave, don't leave.

-"Who let the dogs out?! Who, who, who who!"

-Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave.

You have to stay here. You have to stay here.

Don't -- Don't leave, don't leave.

They're about to walk out. -I know, I know!

-They're about to walk out! Stop doing it!

-No, I won't do it anymore.

-They're about to walk out. -So, after that -- after that day, I'm going back to the hotel.

I'm thinking everything is good, right?

Okay. And -- -Hell no.

-And the players walk off the bus first.

Every one of them that walked by me tapped me on my shoulder and killed -- He was the toughest on me.

He was the toughest. They killed me.

But I will say one player, one player on our team...

-Yes. -...he tapped my back, rubbed my shoulder, he looked down at me, gave me just a -- just a sorry, just a sorry, felt look.

And he said, "Don't worry about it, Coach."

It was Mikal Bridges. Mikal -- Mikal Bridges.

-He got your back. -Yes, he had my back.

-He got your back.

-Can we talk about how he just compared me at 30 to a 7-year-old? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-It's a -- it's a good comparison.

-Yeah. Not bad. -All right.

-Kat, I got to say, I was emotional watching you postgame because you were thinking about your mom...

-Yeah. -...who's no longer with us and that she was there.

-And she was here with you, as well.

You remember? -That's right.

-The photo. When I first got drafted, she met you.

-I did meet your mom. Absolutely.

I loved her. And that had to help you get through these games and give you faith and give you that extra boost of energy.

-Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's crazy, like, being in this seat again and knowing her energy was here and you and her had such a great relationship.

And you made her laugh so much over the years.

And it's awesome that I get to come back to this space with the intention, when you got drafted, you want to win NBA title.

And to come back here, talking to you again with the NBA title... -You did it.

-I did what I was supposed to do.

-Here's a picture I have of your dads holding the trophy. -Oh, that's great.

-That's Karl-Anthony Sr. and Rick Brunson.

Both of your dads hosting a Father's Day -- I want to remind everyone, especially the moms, that Father's Day is this weekend.

Yeah, a lot of people...

-I think we good. We got 'em a trophy.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go.

Uh, Jalen, you probably didn't see this 'cause you were actually on court, but I wanted to show you a clip of what they played after the game.

Look at this.

-You know, life is not perfect, but there are perfect moments, and there's one right there.

-That was a perfect moment right there.

Is it tough -- Is it amazing?

Is it tough? Is it hard having your dad right there and be like -- I mean, that's a lot of emotion.

He's right there, and you're hugging, and...

-Yeah, it was a lot of -- I was -- I was good before -- before I saw him, and then I, um, obviously got emotional afterwards.

But, um, man, it was -- it was everything I dreamed of.

It's all the times that we had together.

-Like, when you're a kid and he's -- he's practicing with you and telling you and you're going over drills over and over again, and you're like, "Dad, one day, I'm gonna make it."

Just make it to the NBA... -Yeah.

-...let alone... -Absolutely.

-Now win. But you focus on just the little things.

And you'd be surprised at what happens when you just -- you put all your energy into little details that actually matter.

-Well said.

-Definitely, you were -- you are New York's team, but I really believe that you were -- you were the country's team 'cause everyone started rooting for the Knicks, and everyone loved you so much.

It was a great -- it was such a great squad, a great team.

What is the thing you want to say that kids can look up to you and take away from this -- this Knicks team?

-I think just, for us, as -- We talked about it before the last game was, everyone had a different background, had a different story, how they got to this seat, to be here on the Knicks up 3-1 in San Antonio.

And those stories, you realize, it doesn't matter where you come from, what's your background, the trials and tribulations you face, as long as you believe in yourself and you are willing to put the work in, anyone, kids growing up in New York, kids growing up all around the world have the chance to be a New York Knick as long as they want to do it, and they got to be willing to put the work in.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Coach Mike Brown, thank you.

And New York thanks you.

More with the Knicks when we come back.

Stick around, everybody. Come on back.