Barbara Barker: It's a family business as Brunsons share Knicks legacy in NBA Finals

SAN ANTONIO — It was all of 9.9 seconds.

That is all the floor time that Rick Brunson saw in the 1999 NBA Finals. At the very end of the first half of Game 3, the only game the Knicks won in that series against the Spurs, Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy motioned for the reserve guard to replace Chris Dudley as the Knicks tried to get off a final shot.

“I think the truth is Jeff felt sorry for me,” Brunson, now an assistant coach on the Knicks, told Newsday with a laugh on Tuesday. “I wouldn’t have put me in.”

As brief as it was, that 9.9 seconds will take on a historical significance to Wednesday when the Knicks and point guard Jalen Brunson tip off Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

Though close to a dozen father-son duos have played in NBA Finals, the Brunsons are the first pair to have made it to the Finals playing for the same franchise.

Jalen, who was 2 years old during the Knicks 1999 run, attended that Game 3 with his mother. Sandra Brunson grew up on Long Island, and graduated from Malverne High School. She attended Temple on a volleyball scholarship where she met and later married Rick, who was a star there playing for legend John Chaney.

Though Jalen said Tuesday that he can’t remember that game, he added the fact he could follow in his father’s footsteps is special.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Jalen said. “I’m not going to lie. It’s something I haven't really thought a lot about. I feel like once the season is over, once the career’s over, there will be times to think about the stuff that we were able to go through together.”

“It’s definitely a cool feeling.”

Rick, a journeyman guard, played nine seasons for eight different NBA teams. Three of those seasons were with the Knicks near the start of his career. Because the players were on the road so much, Jalen and his mother often stayed with her parents in Lakeview. It’s possible that he could have made his first dunk on a Little Tykes hoop at home.

Jalen spent so much time around the Knicks in those years that it seemed like Madison Square Garden was his preschool.

“I used to tell Rick this kid thinks he’s an NBA player. We need to get him into Kindercare or something,” Sandra told Newsday when Jalen went to his first All-Star game two years ago.

Rick may have never been a star in the league, but he earned the respect of his teammates for his tremendous work ethic, former teammate Larry Johnson said last week. Rick also learned enough in his nine years in the league to help mold his son into a big-time player. The crazy workouts Rick put Jalen through in order to make him the star that he never was have been well documented over the years.

“I worked hard just to get in a uniform,” Rick said Tuesday. “He worked hard to be one of the best players in the world. It’s two different levels.”

Jalen won’t be the only player on the court Tuesday whose father played in the NBA. Spurs rookie Dylan Harper is the son of Ron Harper, who won three NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and two with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Yet, the Brunsons will log another NBA first Wednesday as Jalen will become the first player to play in an NBA Finals with his dad on the bench.

The two have a tight relationship and the two have had a good back and forth about how they both got a chance to play for a championship 27 years apart.

“We’re obviously different players,” Rick said. “We joked and Jalen said, ‘The only thing that’s the same (about the two NBA Finals) is that you are on the bench for both of them.’ ”

And that’s just fine with the elder Brunson. He’s already had his 9.9 seconds of fame, and he’s obviously expecting more from his son.

Said Rick: “It’s great and cool. You can’t write this, man. It’s unbelievable.”

Newsday's Steve Popper contributed to this story