The Knicks are hoping their injury woes didn’t get even worse during Sunday’s loss at Indiana, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Isaiah Hartenstein hurt his left shoulder on a hard fall after scoring midway through the second quarter. He played about five minutes in the third quarter, but didn’t attempt a shot and only had one rebound. He also appeared to have difficulty lifting his left arm above his head, Popper observes.
“X-ray came back cool, so probably just like a nerve thing,” Hartenstein told reporters after the game. “But the hand kind of gets numb sometimes, but I’ll be good.”
The Knicks can’t afford another significant injury with Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Bojan Bogdanovic and OG Anunoby already sidelined. Anunoby is the only one from that group who hasn’t been declared out for the playoffs. For his part, Hartenstein sounded optimistic that he’ll be ready when the series resumes Tuesday in New York.
“It was the fall,” he said. “The X-ray came back fine, so it’s probably like a pinched nerve, where it kind of fell asleep at times, but it’s fine. It’s just like small. I guess it’s something that we can fix easy. Everyone’s playing through a lot of stuff, so I’ll be fine.”
There’s more on the Knicks:
- Anunoby appears likely to miss at least one more game as he works to recover from a strained left hamstring, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link). “OG Anunoby is getting treatment on that left hamstring two, three times a day right now,” Wojnarowski said Saturday on NBA Countdown. “… But I’m told there has not been enough progress yet to think that his return is likely in Game 5 on Tuesday.” Wojnarowski notes that there are two days off following Game 5, so there’s a chance Anunoby could be ready to play by Friday. Since he was acquired in a late December trade with Toronto, the Knicks are 26-5 when Anunoby is available and 13-16 without him.
- Jalen Brunson, who briefly left Game 2 with a right foot injury, didn’t want to talk about his condition after Sunday’s loss, per Peter Botte of The New York Post. Even though Brunson wasn’t listed on the injury report, Botte noted that he seemed less explosive than usual and several of his shot attempts fell short. He was held to 18 points on Sunday and shot just 6-of-17 from the field. “Nothing’s flowers and roses, but yeah, we have to take this L,” Brunson said. “There’s no excuse; there’s no blaming anything; there’s no excuses of what we have or don’t have or how anyone’s feeling or what. We take our L’s, and we move forward.”
- Josh Hart, who has provided an emotional spark throughout the playoffs, accepted responsibility for the Knicks’ lethargic performance on Sunday, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “It’s the playoffs. You gotta find it. That’s something that we didn’t do today,” Hart said. “I put that on my shoulders, someone who brings energy, brings hustle, the kind of things I didn’t do today.”
The league office will inform teams today that James has been evaluated and proclaimed healthy by three physicians from the NBA’s Fitness To Play Panel, according to the authors’ sources. That will allow him to fully participate with other top prospects in this week’s Draft Combine in Chicago.
There’s no consensus No. 1 pick in 2024 like there was with 
While no team dropped as far as the Pistons (four spots), the Hornets (No. 3 to No. 6), Trail Blazers (No. 4 to No. 7), Grizzlies (No. 7 to No. 9), and Jazz (No. 8 to No. 10) also moved back multiple spots as a result of the lottery.