We’re through six games in the Knicks’ quest to defend their NBA championship, and it hasn’t been easy so far, as shown by their 2-4 record. Jalen Brunson has shown some flashes, but for the most part, it’s been a rough start to his season.

With that in mind, we ranked his six games played this season from best to worst.

1. Oct. 28 at Bulls

There’s a pretty clear and obvious top game of Jalen Brunson’s season so far, and it’s their most recent win, which came in Chicago. In that game, he scored a season-high 38 points on 13-of-25 shooting, including 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

All six of Brunson’s threes made for the game were pull-up threes, going 6-of-8 on pull-up threes. He also shot 11-of-16 (68.8%) on pull-up shot attempts en route to 38 points.

While the shot-making was Brunson’s best aspect of his night in Chicago, he also had seven assists leading to 25 points. He scored or assisted on 57 of the team’s 133 points for the game. In the season, no other Knick has accounted for more than 41 points in a single game in six games.

That victory on Oct. 28 seemed like it was Brunson’s return to stardom after starting off the season on a cold stretch, following an NBA Finals MVP performance and wrist surgery over the summer.

2. Oct. 27 vs. Pistons

The night before Brunson’s marquee performance at Madison Square Garden vs. the Pistons was most likely Brunson’s second-best game of the season. He had 23 points on 18 shots, which isn’t good when you consider that’s a 27.8% FG%, but he found a way when his shot wasn’t falling. He shot 16 free throws in the win and finished with a season-high plus-14 in the plus-minus category.

Brunson’s offensive play is usually what will get the recognition, and deservedly so when he’s in top-10 conversations, but he was great on the defensive end against a very physical Pistons squad. He managed to hold the Pistons to 3-of-11 shooting (27.3%) across 65.6 partial possessions when he was the primary defender. He defended eight screens as a switch defender (37.5% switch%) and only allowed 0.25 points per screen (two points).

With Brunson on the floor, the Knicks had a 128.6 offensive rating (60.0% TS%), 104.1 defensive rating (49.0% TS% against), and +24.5 net rating across 36:26. That’s the best NETRTG the Knicks have had with Brunson on the floor this season.

Notably, Karl-Anthony Towns shined while sharing the floor with Brunson, scoring 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting in 23:35 with him, compared to six points on 3-of-8 shooting in 8:58 on the floor without Brunson.

3. Oct. 23 at Celtics

On Oct. 23 in Boston, Brunson failed to score at least 20 points for the first time so far this season. He was 7-of-17 from the field, and the Knicks won his minutes by six. He also had two blocks, along with three turnovers.

In a game where the Knicks were looking for any type of lead-guard offense to go along with KAT taking over (22 points, 69.2% FG%, 10 rebounds), Brunson was unable to provide that himself. However, the Knicks had a 120.8 ORTG in his minutes, mostly because KAT was cooking Boston in those minutes. For that reason, his performance against Boston slots into the top half of his performances this season—at the end of the day, it’s about the team playing well with you on the floor.

4. Oct. 30 at 76ers

On Friday in the Knicks’ NBA Cup opener, Jalen Brunson struggled on 8-of-22 shooting, though he had 24 points, six assists, and five rebounds in the defeat. He took some bad shots (game-worst -2.96 shot selection over expected, per The Court Lab), made some bad decisions, and only made one basket in the fourth quarter—a three-point make that gave the Knicks the lead for a handful of seconds.

Brunson once again struggled with pull-up field goal attempts, going 5-of-14 on pull-up shots (2-of-9 on three-point pull-up attempts). He struggled in one-on-one situations on offense, scoring just 0.29 points per one-on-one play.

Still, Brunson was responsible for a game-high 43 points created via scoring or assisting in a game where he had six assists (12 potential assists). He led the Knicks with seven drives to the hoop—and despite only scoring two points himself—the Knicks scored 1.71 points per Brunson drive. Among players with multiple drives in that game, only KAT (three drives, six team points on his drives) performed better.

5. Oct. 25 vs. Magic

Brunson, against an undermanned Magic squad, scored 28 points, but it was overall his worst game of the season. Only James Wiseman (-2.86) and Jase Richardson (-2.63) provided less Value Added than Brunson (-2.51) in the Knicks’ third straight loss to begin their title defense campaign.

Almost all of Brunson’s negative value in the game came on the offensive end (-6.52 Value Added on offense). In the game, he was 3-of-12 on pull-up field goal attempts, missing 16 of the 28 shots he attempted in the game.

The Knicks had a 103.0 ORTG for the entire game, but it was a 91.2 ORTG with Brunson on the floor (32:29) and a 129.0 ORTG in the 15:31 that Brunson sat for the game.

The Knicks had led by as many as 12 points early in the first quarter, but they ended up losing by nine, trailing by 11 within the final minute. In those final minutes of the game, as Orlando was doing whatever they wanted on the offensive end, Brunson was getting his garbage-time buckets to make his overall stat line look cleaner.

6. Oct. 20 vs. 76ers

Brunson’s first game of the season appears to be the clear-cut favorite for his worst performance of the young season through six total games. In a night when the Knicks received their championship rings and welcomed LeBron James and the new-look Sixers to MSG, Brunson looked like he was still in summer mode—but not Finals mode.

Brunson had just 21 points on 19 shots, along with only three assists. In the 34:06 when he was on the floor, the Knicks had an 89.0 ORTG and were outscored by 11 points. When he sat, the Knicks had a 125 ORTG and won the 13:54 he sat by five points.