Captain Clutch goes to be out for fairly a while.
Knicks‘ All-Star Jalen Brunson landed awkwardly on his right ankle in overtime of New York’s 113-109 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
The group dominated him out with a sprained proper ankle forward of tipoff within the second leg of a back-to-back towards the L.A. Clippers on Friday. The Knicks will give an replace on his standing “in approximately two weeks.”
Which suggests the Knicks’ star guard will miss at the least seven of New York’s remaining 20 regular-season video games, together with the remaining 4 of the group’s five-game highway journey.
Brunson has solely missed one of many Knicks’ first 61 video games of the season in what has amounted to a profession 12 months for the first-time All-Star starter. He’s averaging 26.7 factors, a career-high 7.4 assists on 49% capturing from the sphere and 38.8% capturing from deep.
And with out him, the Knicks discover themselves in survival mode. They might want to discover methods to win video games shorthanded — or threat their spot as a prime seed within the Jap Convention playoff image.
STANDINGS CHECK
The Knicks (40-22) entered Friday’s matchup towards the Clippers as sole homeowners of the East’s No. 3 seed, a cushty 4.5 video games behind the second-seeded Boston Celtics.
They’re solely 3.5 video games, nevertheless, forward of the No. 4 seeded Milwaukee Bucks — who’ve received eight of their final 10 video games — 4.5 video games forward of the fifth-seeded Indiana Pacers, and 5.5 video games in entrance of the No. 6 Detroit Pistons, additionally winners in eight of their final 10.
So the Knicks can’t afford to lose too many in a row — at the least not if sustaining the No. 3 seed is a prime precedence. It needs to be famous that the No. 3 seed is in a digital lock for a second-round playoff matchup towards No. 2 Boston, the reigning champions.
There may be an argument that the No. 4 seed gives a extra favorable path to the Jap Convention Finals through a second-round matchup towards the Cleveland Cavaliers. The No. 4 seed might face both Indiana or Detroit within the first spherical.
WHERE WILL THE KNICKS GET OFFENSE?
Mikal Bridges might want to step up. So will Karl-Anthony Cities and Miles McBride, probably beginning instead of the injured Brunson.
OG Anunoby has answered the bell as a Knicks prime scorer and clutch performer in every of the final three video games. With the captain out an prolonged time period, Anunoby will turn into extra aggressive in looking for his personal shot.
However he can’t do it alone.
Bridges posted single-digit scoring video games in two of New York’s final three video games. He tried simply six photographs 43 minutes of an extra time loss to the Lakers on Thursday and shot simply 2-of-11 in Miami and watched a lot of that extra time victory from the bench.
The Knicks sacrificed their skill to make use of draft capital to strike important future offers to amass Bridges, shut buddies and a former Villanova teammate of each Brunson and Josh Hart.
It’s time for New York’s massive funding to start paying dividends: The Knicks want Bridges to point out up on offense along with his position because the group’s level of assault defender. He’s averaging 17.2 factors per recreation this season however has not been constant in being an impactful offensive participant.
The Knicks can even must up Cities’ utilization.
The All-Star beginning heart entered Friday night time’s matchup towards the Clippers in an prolonged scoring droop, going three straight video games with out scoring 20 factors. Coincidentally, he didn’t eclipse 13 subject targets tried in any of these video games.
Cities returned from lacking Tuesday’s residence loss to the Golden State Warriors as a result of private causes. With Brunson out of the rotation, the Knicks want to search out extra inventive methods to get their star heart the ball in advantageous positions.
They can even want Cities, nevertheless, to be extra aggressive in demanding the ball because the offensive star he’s. He can add some extra factors to the scoreboard by going up sturdy by means of contact.
WHAT ABOUT THE POINT GUARD SPOT?
Search for McBride to turn into extra aggressive looking for his personal shot. Additionally search for the Knicks to make use of McBride’s defensive presents to create extra alternatives in transition courtesy of turnovers on the level of assault.
The three-man Knicks lineup of McBride, Anunoby and Bridges has a plus-15.7 web score and holds opponents to 102 factors per 100 possessions.
The Knicks can even proceed seeking to Cameron Payne as a scoring punch off the bench.
