ATLANTA — Welcome again, Cap.
The Knicks formally dominated Jalen Brunson out for Saturday’s recreation towards the Hawks, clearing the runway for his return on Sunday towards the Phoenix Suns — and signaling the tip of a month-long absence for his or her All-Star captain.
However as Brunson prepares to take the ground for the primary time since spraining his proper ankle in additional time of a March 6 loss to the Lakers, the Knicks discover themselves strolling a tightrope: wholesome our bodies are returning, however the calendar isn’t forgiving.
Brunson practiced with contact Friday at Georgia Tech’s Zelnak Middle — his first full session for the reason that harm. Miles McBride additionally practiced however missed his eighth straight recreation Saturday with a groin pressure. Cameron Payne, in the meantime, rejoined the rotation after lacking 4 video games attributable to an ankle sprain. Mitchell Robinson sat out Saturday’s contest as a part of the continuing upkeep from the ankle surgical procedure that saved him out 10 months.
With six video games remaining within the common season — and 5 of them coming in a brutal seven-day span — the Knicks are all of a sudden getting wholesome at a time when workload administration turns into a day by day dilemma. Gamers coming back from harm sometimes don’t play in each legs of a back-to-back. The Knicks have two extra of them earlier than the playoffs start: Sunday towards the Suns, then a road-home back-to-back on April 10 in Detroit towards the No. 5 Pistons, then again at Madison Sq. Backyard towards the No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.
So whereas Thibodeau’s most well-liked imaginative and prescient is a group peaking on the proper time, the fact is extra difficult.
“You’re not gonna jeopardize a player’s health,” he stated forward of tipoff towards the Hawks. “So if [Jalen] can play, he’ll play, and if it’s better for him not to play, he won’t play. There’s some moving parts here. We’re trying to reintegrate players as they come back after being out for a while, so there’s that challenge as well.”
Which means restricted runway for experimentation — and even fewer reps for key models to construct rhythm earlier than the postseason.
Brunson, Robinson and Karl-Anthony Cities — a trio the Knicks hope can anchor a playoff run — have logged simply 2.3 minutes collectively in a single recreation since Robinson returned on Feb. 26. Robinson and Brunson shared the court docket for simply 49 minutes between Robinson’s return and Brunson’s harm. It’s a pairing that wants re-acclimation — in principle.
“Well, I think if you had your druthers, obviously you’d like to see that,” Thibodeau stated. “But you deal with reality. They’ve played together before, so I think they have an understanding of each other. So we’ll make the best of it.”
Brunson regaining his rhythm — whether or not in restricted minutes or not — stays the highest precedence.
A month away from NBA recreation pace can uninteresting any scorer’s edge, and the Knicks want their captain in All-Star type heading into the playoffs. Earlier than the harm, Brunson was averaging 26.3 factors and a career-best 7.4 assists per recreation, commanding the offense with precision and poise.
The day without work could have helped his physique recuperate from the pounding it’s endured all season, nevertheless it comes with a caveat. Relaxation can heal the physique, however it might additionally steal a participant’s rhythm.
“It all depends because obviously you’re able to rest and have the body kind of feeling good, but also you lose a little bit of your timing and rhythm and all that, and it takes a little bit of time to get that back,” stated Josh Hart. “He’ll in all probability have the ability to play 4 or 5 video games for us in direction of the tip of the season, so hopefully he can get again into slightly little bit of rhythm offensively. That’s the place the strides OG and ‘Kal have been making offensively in his absence is going to come in handy.”
The Knicks are hopeful Brunson will be able to ramp up with four or five games before the postseason begins. He will also need to use those games, Thibodeau says, to get his conditioning back up to par.
“Obviously it was an ankle, so it was a bit more challenging, but he spent a lot more time in the pool, on the bike, he’s been on it from the start,” he stated. “[He’s] working out two or three times a day, but there’s nothing you can do that can replicate the intensity of a game.”
