Knicks have Jalen Brunson back for what they've been aiming for all season: Make some noise in playoffs

Wait until Jalen Brunson gets back.

That was the mantra, the nonstop refrain that Knicks fans repeated over and over again for nearly a month as they waited for their All-Star point guard to recover from the sprained ankle that sidelined him for 15 games this spring.

The belief was if the Knicks could find a way to tread water while their floor leader was gone, everything would be OK. Well, the Knicks did manage to stay in third place in the East while Brunson was gone. But since his return, the Knicks have fallen short of OK.

The Knicks went 11-6 without Brunson as players such as OG Anunoby stepped up to replace his scoring. After his return, the Knicks were 1-3 against some very tough opponents before Brunson sat out the meaningless season finale against the Nets. The low point came when the Knicks blew a 23-point lead to Cleveland in the second-to-last game of the season and coach Tom Thibodeau declared, “We have to fix things. And we got to get it fixed fast.”

Well, the fixing started this week as the Knicks have a full five days without a game before opening up their first-round series against a young, physical Detroit team Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. What’s more — if his past two postseasons are any indication — Brunson is due for some big games in the first round of the playoffs.

In his first postseason as a Knick, Brunson averaged 24 points as the Knicks eliminated Cleveland in five games in the first round. Then, last year against the Philadelphia 76ers, he posted one of the best first-round performances in NBA history. Over six games, Brunson averaged 35.5 points and 9.0 assists, becoming just the third player ever to post four straight playoff games with at least 35 points and five assists.

“I try not to take it for granted and I appreciate all he brings to our team and that he plays to win,” Thibodeau said Tuesday about Brunson’s ability to step up when the Knicks need him most. “His competitive spirit is spectacular. That’s all he wants to do and that’s all he’s ever been from when he was a little kid to where he is today. That’s what makes him who he is.”

Still, there are some kinks to work out before this series opens. The Knicks were 1-3 against the Pistons in the regular season, including a loss in Detroit on April 10 when Brunson was 5-for-15 for a Knicks team that sat two starters and Mitchell Robinson.

While losing a key player like Brunson for a monthlong stretch forced some Knicks to step up, it also forced some people to change their roles when he returns.

“I think that’s the nature of our league is how quickly can you adapt to things,” Thibodeau said when asked about the adjustments the team had to make losing and then regaining one of their best players. “We said when Jalen went out that we knew we couldn’t replace him individually, that we’d have to do it collectively, and that’s what we did. . .  . Obviously, we want Jalen out there, so that makes us a different team, and we’ve got to get reacclimated to that, but that’s the challenge of the entire league.”

Brunson said he has a lot of confidence in this Knicks team heading into the first round.

“Obviously, we didn’t finish the season the way we wanted to,” Brunson said after the team’s practice on Tuesday. “But I think this week will help and going to the playoffs and knowing what’s at stake will help.”

What isn’t at stake? With the expectations that were heaped upon this reconfigured team heading into the season, a loss to the Pistons in the first round would surely make for some drastic changes. Conversely, a very strong showing would do a lot to bring them together and give them some much-needed momentum heading into a conference semifinal series against a Celtics team that the Knicks were built to contend with.

Karl-Anthony Towns, who was added to the team just before training camp, isn’t worried that the Knicks were still figuring some things out in the final games of the regular season.

Said Towns: “When I was with the Timberwolves last year, we didn't play our best basketball at the end and found ourselves in the Western Conference Finals. So, we’ve just got to go out there and get the job done, execute offensively, defensively and put yourself in position to win every single night.”

And, it wouldn’t hurt if Brunson came up with another big first-round series.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

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.