Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson is listed as questionable for New York’s Tuesday game against the Hawks after exiting in the first minute on Sunday against the Cavaliers, according to SNY’s Ian Begley (Twitter link). As was expected, it seems Brunson has avoided a major injury.
Brunson departed on Sunday with a left knee injury that looked scarier than it ended up being after colliding with Isaiah Hartenstein while running around a screen. As we wrote earlier on Monday, coach Tom Thibodeau was among those who expressed optimism for Brunson’s ability to play sooner rather than later.
It’s obviously a major sigh of relief for a Knicks team that’s been battling major health issues for the past couple months. After looking impressive and soaring up the standings after acquiring OG Anunoby, the Knicks withstood injuries to the likes of Anunoby and Julius Randle and are now 3-7 in their last 10 games. At fourth in the East at 36-25, they’re closer to the No. 8 seed (2.5 games) than No. 3 (3.5 games).
If Brunson isn’t able to go against the Hawks, his next chance to suit up will be on Friday when the Knicks play the Magic. If he’s unable to play Tuesday, Miles McBride is the most obvious candidate to see an increase in his workload — he didn’t sit for a single second after Brunson went down on Sunday.
Brunson is averaging 27.2 points and 6.6 assists per game while shooting 47.7% from the floor and 40.7% from three in his first career All-Star season.
I was full fledged member of the Thibs fan club long before it became “cool” to be in the club. Membership is picking up steam. A lot of Knick fans especially have pretty much trashed this guy since he got there. Same guy he has always been. Thibs has a pretty solid window about to open up for the Knicks.
Long time member of the club but waited until the Knicks were good to announce your affiliation? Nice try.
I do think he runs guys into the ground and increases the likelihood of injuries.
Having said that, I’ve got to give him credit. He turned a laughingstock into one of the healthiest cultures in the league in short order. He got players to buy in 110%. And then he got the FO to buy in and deliver exactly the players he wanted. Now I’ve got a team I’m proud to root for… even if half of them are injured.
@VBarry – I would say some elements of the NYK fanbase trashed him, and some still do. But it was always limited to uninitiated parts of the fanbase (yes, unfortunately, we have our 2k’ers like every other team, and ours tend to be louder than most, since NY’ers tend to be louder than most). In any event, most of Thibs’ critics, here or elsewhere, have no idea what coaching even is, let alone enough basketball knowledge to evaluate it.
Almost every knowledgable NYK fan I know was excited over the Thibs hire. The few who were skeptical about the hire were not questioning his coaching ability, only the fit with a team that was coming off a 17 and 21 win seasons and looked years away competing for a playoff spot. We didn’t even have any young guys that looked like future stars; Barrett was the closest thing, and he was coming off a disappointing rookie year.
Personally, I was estatic about the hire, but I admit as much for what it said about Rose than anything else. I also remembered that the prior NYK FO passed on Bud based on the well known 2k’er theory that “we weren’t ready to win yet” and we got 2k’er favorite Fizdale. So, win or lose, I was ready for a real coach. We had tried everything else.
In “Thibs we Trust “ ………
Knicks have never done a full rebuild. This team was built thru draft and FA. Not since they drafted Ewing. Have Knicks gone thru full rebuild. Thibs is a big part of that. They have looked for committed guys. Create a good mix of talent for team chemistry. Rose and Thibs deserve a lot of credit. Not easy to do with this Owner.
So I’m thankful …….