Jalen Brunson delivered his Knicks wake-up message at perfect time — especially with what’s ahead

We are suckers for this stuff. We are. We see a team struggling, finding it hard to get out of its own way. We hear boos come cascading out of the stands. We see lots of slumped shoulders. We see lots of hung heads, And then, invariably, there is a call to arms.

And a captain calls a team meeting.

Yes, this is the stuff of sports movies. Of course, the best captains in all sports are even more clever than we give them credit for. Not long after Keith Hernandez became the captain of the Mets, the team was struggling through a mid-summer losing streak. After one game, Hernandez booted the coaches out of the clubhouse. He kept the media cooling their heels outside the locker room.

The next day, the Mets won handily. Dwight Gooden pitched a four-hitter. Hernandez was hailed for his brilliant captaincy. And then he smiled, took a long drag on a cigarette.