Knicks need Jalen Brunson for the playoffs, so having caution is wise
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson looks on against the Pacers in the first half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 10. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
How serious is Jalen Brunson’s knee injury?
X was on the verge of imploding Sunday after watching Brunson crumple to the court in Cleveland. Minutes later, a number of fans who also had the letters MD in their handles were offering up their various medical diagnoses after watching replays of the injury, which occurred in the first minute of the Knicks’ win over the Cavaliers.
I’m not a doctor. Nor do I play one on X. But I feel pretty confident in this diagnosis: As exciting as the Knicks have been this season, they are just one Brunson extended leave away from the whole house of cards collapsing.
Don’t think that the Knicks don’t know this. As much as coach Tom Thibodeau likes to wield the phrase “next man up” as his personal injury-question-deflecting light saber, he like anyone who watched the way the Brunson-less Knicks lost, 116-100, to an Atlanta Hawks team without Trae Young Tuesday has to understand that some men are more important than others.
No one is more important to the Knicks success than Brunson.
Listed as questionable for the game, Brunson did not play, despite the fact an MRI of his left knee had “come back clean” and the fact Thibodeau told reporters that he has shown improvement since the injury on Sunday.
“It’s a bruise and it’s a lot better than it was,” Thibodeau said, “but we just want to make sure he’s completely ready.”
The most important part of that quote is the phrase “completely ready.” The Knicks have been able to survive injuries to Mitchell Robinson, OG Anunoby and even Julius Randle, but losing Brunson for a protracted period would be a different story.
On one hand, the Knicks don’t want to suddenly drop into a play-in position which could very possibly happen by this time next week. On the other, they don’t want Brunson’s knee bruise to turn into something worse. All this makes the upcoming stretch very tricky.
With their loss to the Hawks, the Knicks are in a tie for fourth place with the Magic, who beat Charlotte on Tuesday. They are also just a half-game before both the Heat and the 76ers.
As the schedule would have it, their next three games are against two of these teams. The Knicks host Orlando on Friday and then host Philadelphia on Sunday and again next Tuesday. “We’re going to get guys back soon but we have to keep pushing,” Josh Hart said when asked about the standings. “At the end of the day, we are where we are and I like this team.”
As much as they would like to have Brunson back on the floor in the next week, there are things worse than the Knicks slipping in the standings in early March.
How about finishing the season without Brunson at all? Anunoby, Robinson and Randle are all said to be making progress toward being able to play. How devastating would it be to get those starters back only to have the engine that makes the team go not be able to play?
Without Brunson running the show down the stretch, the Knicks are almost guaranteed to bow out in the first round of the playoffs or possibly not make it there at all.
In so many ways, it shouldn’t be a surprise where the Knicks are at this juncture. Brunson has averaged 35.4 minutes in his 57 games. Since Anunoby went down and the Knicks were playing without three starters, he has averaged 37.9 and had three games where he played more than 39. Adding to that he participated in both the Three-Point Shootout and All-Star Game, and Brunson really hasn’t had much of a respite this season.
The Knicks’ reserves and role players were able to pick up the slack when Brunson went down one minute into their game against Cleveland. It was a huge accomplishment, considering that it gave them the season series tiebreaker over the third-place Cavaliers.
Watching the Knicks without Brunson struggle early against Atlanta Tuesday, it was hard not to feel a bit of that panic set in, hard not to wish Brunson back on the floor as early as possible. The bottom line, however, is the Knicks caught a break and it wasn’t something more serious that happened in Cleveland.
As tough as it is to watch the Knicks without Brunson right now, the Knicks have to make sure they take advantage of that break.
It’s not quite time to panic.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
