Starting right now, Tyler Kolek is starting point guard for Knicks
Knicks guard Tyler Kolek drives to the basket against L.A. Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. during the first half of an NBA game Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Noah K. Murray
Another game, another point guard injured.
The Knicks lost their third ballhandler in less than three weeks when Cam Payne came up limping after hitting a floater in the first half of the Knicks’ 126-113 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday night. After Payne did not start the second half, the team announced that he had sprained his right ankle and would not return.
While the seriousness of Payne’s injury is not known, this is: The Knicks’ backcourt is beginning to look like a M*A*S*H unit. Jalen Brunson has sat since March 4 with a sprained ankle of his own while Miles McBride has missed two games in a row with a groin issue.
In other words, as the Knicks head into the final 10 games of the regular season trying to hold on to third place in the East, they have one healthy traditional point guard.
And he’s a rookie.
Tyler Kolek, who the Knicks selected with the 34th overall pick in last year’s draft, is destined to get some quality playing time in the next couple weeks as the rest of the Knicks backcourt is on the mend.
“You just have to be ready to go whenever your number is called,” said Kolek, who played a career-high 18 minutes and 30 seconds on Wednesday. “You don’t wish for these circumstances for guys to get hurt. You wish for opportunity but you don’t want to see it come at the expense of guys. But, you just have to be a professional no matter what my role is, whether I’m out there starting or out there cheering my guys on from the bench.”
Fans have been clamoring to see more of Kolek ever since Brunson got hurt, and it appears they are certainly going to get what they want.
His performance against the Clippers was decidedly uneven. Kolek’s ability to orchestrate the offense is impressive as he finished the game with seven assists. He struggled on defense against a Clippers team that is admittedly hard to defend. He also failed to score and missed two free throws.
“I have to be more aggressive, just get out there learning,” Kolek said. “I have to lean on the other guys helping me out <NM1>and just lean on the other guys helping out 110% every time I’m out there.”
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has liked the steady growth he’s seen from Kolek all season. He’s confident that he will continue to improve as he gets more time.
“He’ll get better,” Thibodeau said when asked about Kolek’s defense. “Like most rookies, you go through a learning curve. As he understands players better and schemes better, it’s a different game. I like Tyler a lot.”
So do his teammates. Of the three injured point guards, McBride appears to be the most likely to come back as he has been listed day-to-day as the Knicks head to Milwaukee for a game Friday against a team they may very well meet in the first round of the playoffs.
The Knicks, however, are confident that their rookie point guard can play a big role if he is needed.
“Next man up. This team has fought adversity a lot so it’s next man up, Karl-Anthony Towns said. “I told y’all before we’ve got a locker room full of guys who are extremely talented and have great character and we believe in every single one of these guys in the locker room stepping into the game and making an impact.”
Next man up is a common refrain on Knicks teams, but at this one position they are dangerously close to running out of men. Thibodeau has long been criticized — fairly or not — for running his starters into the ground. You can bet you are going to hear more and more of that if the Knicks don’t get on the mend.
“Yeah, man. It’s tough. Injuries already suck and for some reason it’s smacking us in the same position,” Josh Hart said. “We’ve just got to piece it together. We’ve got 10 games left. We’ve got three back-to- backs, I think. So it’s going to be tough. We’ve just got to find out ways to scratch out wins, and hopefully get those guys back.”
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.
