The shorthanded Knicks will be without all three of their top point guards ahead of a Sunday meeting with the Trail Blazers.
Stefan Bondy of The New York Post tweets that All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson (ankle sprain) and his backups Miles McBride (groin contusion/strain) and Cameron Payne (ankle sprain) will all sit out. Rookie center Ariel Hukporti is also sidelined as he continues to recovery from knee surgery.
Brunson has been on the shelf for New York’s last 11 contests due to a right ankle sprain. The Knicks have gone just 6-5 in that span, but still control the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed by 3.5 games over the No. 4 Pacers as of this writing.
Veteran Delon Wright started at the point during the Knicks’ most recent game, a win over the Bucks on Friday. In his first extended action for the team, Wright scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field in 30 minutes.
There’s more out of New York:
- Knicks swingman OG Anunoby has stepped into the scoring and leadership void left by Brunson during the point guard’s absence, per Steve Popper of Newsday (subscriber link). “I always try to be aggressive,” Anunoby said. “Just depending on situations, sometimes it comes or something doesn’t. Just today I was really aggressive. I try to play the right way and read the game, and also just trying to get fouled, get teams in the bonus, create fouls, being aggressive at all times.” Across the 11 bouts Brunson has missed, Anunoby has been averaging 22.4 PPG.
- Knicks reserve center Mitchell Robinson is rediscovering his rebounding acumen as he settles into life with the 2024/25 iteration of the club following a lengthy injury layoff, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. In the first half of New York’s 116-107 road victory against Milwaukee on Friday, Robinson pulled down 10 boards. “Yeah, I feel like [I’m getting my rhythm back],” Robinson said. “I definitely think that is true on my end. Once you get going and you get the first one, you see how shots are going, long, short, whatever, once you kind of get a pattern of it there you go.”
- Veteran forward P.J. Tucker saw his latest 10-day deal with the Knicks expire on Saturday night. According to Bondy (Twitter link), while Tucker could rejoin the club at some point this season, he is not on the team’s roster for Sunday’s matchup with Portland. The 39-year-old veteran logged just two minutes in a single appearance for New York during his two 10-day contracts.
Mitch looks stiff, some probable rust for sure but I wonder if the mental challenges of going full out are more of an obstacle
On the bright side the 3 seeds been locked forever so maybe a soft start up is for the best, either way we need some real improvement here Rd 1 if NYK has any chance moving forward
Mitch just needs time. Not in game shape yet. All about the playoffs now. Mitch, Brunson and the rest need to be in game shape. A full Knicks team is going to 2nd rd. Not getting by Celtics without TJ. Don’t know what’s going on with him. Even with a full team. Best I see is 7 game series.
Only chance Knicks have of beating Celtics in 2nd rd. First they have to be healthy. They have to have TJ on their bench. Their bench has to play well and consistent. OG and Bridges need to provide consistent offense. To me Bridges is the key. Been saying it all year. Still hasn’t happened. Has to level up to star status. With Mitch and TJ on bench. Gives Knicks deeper stronger bench. Not winning without starters outplaying Celtics starters. Its a lot to ask this late in the season. Its 7 games. I will just take it one gm at a time.
Al, you keep bringing up TJ. How much do you really expect him to contribute IF the Knicks bring him in? He hasn’t been good in the L the last little bit, which is why he’s been in the G-League all season.
If TJ is playing meaningful minutes against the C’s, that means things are not going well for the Knicks.
NYK won’t know their ceiling (which is all they can concern themselves with) until Brunson is back, and Mitch gets his bounce back. Time isn’t an ally, and the remaining schedule is tough after the next 2 tanking teams at home. Brunson likely won’t get more than a 5 or so games to get his rhythm back, and keep the wings going well. Mitch, if he continues to come off the bench, and not play back to backs, is looking at only a few more games than that at about 20 mpg.