Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson are both listed as questionable to play on Tuesday in Game 2 of the Knicks’ second-round series against the Heat, the Knicks’ PR department tweets.
It’s a mixed bag for New York, which trails 1-0 in the series. Randle, who is nursing a sprained left ankle, missed Game 1. His status give the Knicks hope he’ll return to action sooner rather than later. Randle only played 16 minutes in the closeout game against Cleveland on April 26 when the ankle flared up.
The Brunson prognosis, a sore right ankle, is a little more troubling. He played 40 minutes on Sunday and scored 25 points but missed all seven of his 3-point attempts and committed five turnovers. Brunson blamed himself for the loss, calling his performance “terrible.” The Knicks’ offense will be greatly impacted if their floor leader can’t go.
Heat forward Jimmy Butler is also listed as questionable for Game 2 due to a sprained right ankle, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets. Butler scored 25 points in 43 minutes but only attempted one shot after rolling the ankle with just over five minutes remaining.
Miami has already lost third-leading scorer Tyler Herro for the remainder of the postseason due to a broken right hand suffered in Game 1 of the first-round series against Milwaukee.
It’s bad enough the Rangers lost. Now the Knicks may not have both players for the second game is just throwing salt on that wound.
Amen. Also fully prepping myself for the Mets to underachieve this season, too. Already shaping up that way with 4/5 of the rotation missing time.
I don’t think it’s exactly fair to complain about the Mets pitching staff when that’s mostly self-inflicted…both age and a suspension. Mets fans can’t complain about injuries when the team has been spending truckloads of money on older players or players that have a history of health questions. When you sign that, you pretty much know the risks.
What next? Is your team going to pick up Giancarlo Stanton, Garrett Cooper, Sixto Sanchez, Justin Upton, Lorenzo Cain and Ichiro, then be shocked when they go down?
Yeah… I don’t look for the Columbus Crew to do so well this season, either
@MarlinsFanBase: As usual, you’re putting a lot of words in my mouth in order to rip the Mets, who you’re obsessed with. I wasn’t complaining, just merely stating a fact and preparing myself to be underwhelmed. Take a break from the Mets for a few weeks. Your Marlins are playing well and so are the Heat. You don’t have to spend all day thinking about the Mets.
@rct
Ahh…ok. I misunderstood because, as you know, some of your Mets brethren are already looking for the bridges to jump off and digging up the excuses…29 GAMES INTO THE SEASON!
Mets are killing me right now. I’m going to make believe it’s because three of the pitchers have barely pitched.
Boston and Ny can share drinks together
Boston Bruins early vacation brought to you by the Florida Panthers.
Poor E!SPN! These South Florida teams are ruining their story plans!
Ouch about that salt!
Poor Knicks fans! Things ONLY happen to them!
I sure hope that Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo can play. Oh, wait a minute!
Gotta love the dude that just shows up when their team is in the playoffs.
Well the Heat have been in the playoffs for over 2 decades and have won a few championships so……
I know.
What does that have to do with what I wrote?
@Sinister_Joe
FYI…I have been popping onto the Heat articles (and other NBA teams, including the Knicks) for years. I just spend most of my time on the baseball pages.
So, since you didn’t know that, I have to say…
Gotta love the dude that rarely shows up to where he doesn’t even know one of the regulars, and he comments openly to show he isn’t here often…and it just so happens to be when his team is finally in the playoffs and advanced past the first round for the first time in decades.
We don’t need them ….. Jalen will play. Even if it’s coming off bench. Randle n Jimmy I doubt play. You think we are shooting 20% from 3 today. Or 60% from FT. Heat are done without Jimmy. We can win with Obi. So start praying
Saving this too.
Regardless of if Jimmy plays, as I assume the other 2 will, if I’m the Knicks, I’m limiting Mitchell Robinson’s minutes to certain situations in this series, and mostly using Randle, Toppin, and Hartenstein at the 5. I think the Heat struggle with those lineups
I wouldnt mind maybe seeing Yurtseven in the lineups against Hartenstein
Yeah, I feel like Yurtseven is only used when they are trying to throw a team off or when the Heat are desperate for some size. So far, I’m okay with the Love and Bam combo in the paint. Now if they don’t have Jimmy, and want to go very big (but slow), they can try Love at the 3 with Yurtseven and Bam in the post. But that would expose fastbreaks happening against us.
We’ll see what the Heat do for this game. One thing learned…always trust Spo and Pat to put a solid plan together.
Other option is UD. Which would be cool
I think Jalen plays and the other 2 sit. Randle might play, as per game 2 desperation. Jimmy won’t, IMO.
Heat already have earned the split in NY, and the Knicks can not afford to go down 2-0. Would not surprise me to see Brunson and Randle play while Jimmy does not. Knicks win the battle tonight, but Heat set themselves up more favourably to win the war.
I actually think Knicks look better when Randle isn’t playing. Less ISO and more ball movement. But I’m not sure on his matchup with Bam who’ll most likely be on his a** all night. Without Jimmy, Herro and Oladipo a full Knicks team should win easily. But should isn’t always the outcome and Knicks are either hot or ice cold.
Randle has loved playing against the Heat this year. Knicks have done well against them. Seven game series, so we’ll see.
Brunson has been playing hurt for a while, but he’s had some very good shooting games through it. Maybe he aggrevated the ankle in game 1, I don’t recall it being mentioned. Though, it was noticable that NYK didn’t go to him down the stretch of game 1, which is rare particularly when Randle is not playing. RJ tried to step up as the go to guy, but wasn’t really up to it (despite having a good game to that point).
I’m more afraid of Randle playing compromised, than I am of him not playing. He’s our only physically dominant player, and we wouldn’t be here without him. But he’s also our most high maintenance. His physicality is needed for the first to outweigh the second, and that’s so much a function of his unusal quickness for a guy his size. If its not there, he’s just another big strong guy with decent skills who thinks he’s much better than he is. Because Toppin is playing reasonably well, and team played well enough to win game 1 (if they hit even a few more open shots), I rather roll with him for one more game. Looking at a possible 0-2, it’s risky either way.
You could create more space by not using Mitchell Robinson nearly as much
Mitch and Hartenstein share the C spot, and they usually see minutes based on their play. Some more of the latter, less of the former, might be in line, but it’s game to game. Neither is much of a perimeter player, and that’s fine, we’re not playing 5 out. Spacing can come from lots of places. It doesn’t need to be at the cost of eliminating our ability to defend the rim and compete on the boards. In our case, it can’t. The latter are the only reasons we win. We’re not a good shooting team. We win when we shoot decently. We’re going to lose when we shoot like we did Sunday.
I think against a team like the Heat though, you still have more than enough size with those other guys besides mitchell robinson. I still think he should play a handful of minutes in certain lineups, but it should be almost entirely those other guys otherwise
The way Robinson is sucking down offensive rebounds and swatting shots in the paint, I don’t think you take him out. Second shot opportunities are what got the Knicks passed the Cavs.
RJ was terrible down stretch. Bad decisions too much Iso. Whole team went Iso. Just made it easier for Heat to D up.
Again why they need more space, but also need to get easier baskets in half court situations, which they missed with Randle out, but I think they can get that out of those other bigs
Agreed. Knicks just had their bad game. Hopefully they got it out of their system. With everyone back, it should be interesting.