Jalen Brunson three point celebration: Knicks star refuses to explain confusing celebration

Jalen Brunson is having the best year of his career with the New York Knicks. Thanks to his impressive performances, the Knicks are up 3-1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and will likely advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

In Game 4, the 6-foot-1 guard scored a game-high 29 points. He went 5-for-9 from long range, but his 3-point celebration was quite confusing and unusual. The Knicks star, however, refused to reveal his inspiration for it.

Brunson was interviewed by Lisa Salters after the game and didn't want to talk about the celebration. Due to this, many basketball fans began wondering what Brunson's celebration meant.

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Jalen Brunson's celebration may have been inspired by a soccer player

Jalen Brunson is the leading scorer in the New York Knicks-Cleveland Cavaliers series. With 24.3 points per game, the 26-year-old guard has outscored any other player on the court.

The series is well known for its lockdown defense and low-scoring games. Because of this, it was quite surprising to see Brunson shoot 55.6% from long range in Game 4. However, this hot shooting night resulted in a new celebration.

"Don't worry about it," Brunson said when asked about the 3-point celebration.

Since the New York Knicks star avoided talking about his celebration, many fans thought that its origin was inappropriate for TV. However, this may not be the case. There is a good chance that Brunson's latest move was inspired by Paulo Dybala, a soccer player.

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Like Dybala, Brunson placed his index finger close to his nose. His hand looked like it was covering the face, which is why this celebration is also known as a mask celebration.

This is not the first time that basketball and soccer players have had a similar celebration. Mikal Bridges' celebration was inspired by Michael Obafemi, while Steph Curry and Kylian Mbappe also have a similar way of celebrating their scoring.

Paulo Dybala has used this celebration since 2016 (Image via Getty Images)

Dybala explained that he came up with the celebration after watching Ridley Scott's "Gladiator." He watched the movie shortly after missing an important penalty kick in the Italian Super Cup final.

“Bad things happen, to me or anyone, difficult times in life, but you have to keep going: put the mask on like gladiators do, and fight," Dybala explained.

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Jalen Brunson's 3-point celebration is still a mystery, and it will be until he decides to reveal his true inspiration. However, considering that another world-class athlete used a similar celebration, there is a good chance that he was inspired by it.