Jalen Brunson injury casts shadow over Knicks’ chances
The Knicks can only hope their season doesn’t take a turn like Jalen Brunson’s ankle.
The All-Star point guard left Tuesday night’s game after falling to the court in pain, the result of a right ankle that bent on a drive and sent Brunson to the locker room for good.
The Knicks then polished off a 123-113 victory over the severely undermanned Grizzlies — nearly blowing a 28-point lead in the process — but the focus afterward was on Brunson’s health.
As usual, Tom Thibodeau was short on details.
“Not yet,” the coach said postgame.
If there’s positive news, it’s that Brunson was spotted leaving the arena without a boot, crutches or a pronounced limp. But he was also walking gingerly.
His teammates were in the dark but optimistic.
“I saw absolutely nothing. I was in the far corner, and I just saw him go down rocking back and forth and that’s the only thing I saw,” Donte DiVincenzo said. “Playing with him for so long and knowing him — I said, ‘You good?’ And he said, ‘I’m good,’ and I didn’t ask anything after that. I don’t worry about Jalen at all. He’s one of the toughest guys in the league. I’m not worried.”
But Brunson wasn’t good enough to keep playing.
He was hurt with 5:31 remaining and the Knicks up by 10.
He attempted to shake it off and sat on the bench during the subsequent timeout, only to concede to the pain and depart through the tunnel.
Brunson was followed by his father, assistant coach Rick Brunson, who came back a few minutes later.
Without Brunson, who finished with 27 points and eight assists, the Knicks’ lead fell from 10 to four with about two minutes left.
Then DiVincenzo (game-high 32 points) nailed a clutch trey, and Precious Achiuwa (17) dunked a put-back to regain control.
The shame was another injury in the fourth quarter of a game that was shaping up as an easy victory — just like when Julius Randle suffered his dislocated shoulder against the Heat last month.
On Tuesday, the Knicks were up by 23 after the third quarter and 20 when Brunson was reinserted with 8:08 remaining.
“I tell you guys all the time that no lead is safe,” Thibodeau said. “So you’ve got to read the game.”
Brunson turned his ankle in garbage time earlier this season in Boston but never missed a game.
The Grizzlies (18-33) were again wearing their G-League outfit.
Their best players — Ja Morant (shoulder), Desmond Bane (ankle), Brandon Clarke (Achilles), Jaren Jackson Jr. (hip), Marcus Smart (finger) — were all out.
Most of them won’t return this season.
The most recognizable player on their roster Tuesday was Derrick Rose, who played at MSG as an opponent for the first time since 2019. All the Grizzlies starters (Santi Aldama, Vince Williams Jr. Trey Jemison, Jacob Gilyard and Jon Konchar) would’ve been difficult for Knicks fans to identify in a lineup.
The Knicks (33-18) led wire-to-wire and by double digits for most of the game clock.
They improved to 22-1 against teams that entered Tuesday night with losing records, including 12 straight versus those opponents.
The Knicks’ defense was upsetting to Thibodeau — especially during a lax start to the fourth quarter — but there was little doubt about their victory from tipoff until the final buzzer. The biggest question is Brunson’s health. He’s missed two games this season and only has three more games until the break, when Brunson is scheduled to make his first All-Star appearance.
“Next guy get in,” Thibodeau said, “get the job done.”
Josh Hart also appeared to hurt his knee and Thibodeau acknowledged his forward was “checked out by medical.”
The Knicks were already wounded.
They were missing OG Anunoby for a fifth straight game because of elbow inflammation, an injury that Thibodeau didn’t explain because it was up to “medical.”
The Knicks do not make their doctors available to the media.
Quentin Grimes sat his third straight with a sprained knee.
Neither Grimes nor Anunoby were on the Knicks bench during the game.
Randle, who missed his fifth straight because of a dislocated shoulder, was at the end of the bench, however.
“It’s a normal NBA season,” Isaiah Hartenstein said. “You have so many games. If you look at our beginning schedule it was crazy. You’re going to have times, especially before All-Star [break], where guys have [been] banged up or vice versa, you have guys coming back around this time.
“That’s why you have a team, guys being ready to step up. We have the luxury of having multiple guys that can step up. We’re a little banged up, but at the end of the day that’s the NBA life. You have to go from there.”
