Has injury reality finally set in for the Knicks?
New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson against the Oklahoma City Thunder at MSG on Sunday. Credit: AP/Peter K. Afriyie
When it was over, including the last-second shot that handed them their second straight tough loss and the angst over the calls, the Knicks' players and coach bit their tongues on the anger and frustration and mouthed something else: a reality they finally seem ready to confront.
While the questions arise every game — wondering when Julius Randle will return, why OG Anunoby has been sidelined for the last seven games after briefly returning from what the team said was a simple and successful surgical procedure, and what about Mitchell Robinson, who lasted two games before reinjuring his surgically repaired left ankle — they seem ready to move forward without counting on any of them.
“We just deal with reality, day to day,” coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Josh Hart echoed his coach after Sunday's 113-112 loss to the Thunder.
“I’m looking at it like this is the team we’re going to have,” Hart said. “I think that’s how we have to approach it, that those guys aren’t coming back, and obviously, we’ll be pleasantly surprised if they come back. I’m not in those medical conversations or anything like that . . . But we’ve got to approach it every game and the end of this season that those guys aren’t coming back, and if they do, be pleasantly surprised.”
If the Knicks (44-30) have settled their minds on that, there is another reality to face — that they might not have enough to reach their goals. They are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind the Cavaliers and a half-game ahead of the Magic, and heading to Miami with eight games left.
At their best, the Knicks have a deep and talented team, maybe deeper than any other team in the NBA. They're missing the MVP type like a Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antetokounmpo, but they're as good from one to 10 as anyone.
All three missing starters seem as if they could return, with the team cautiously protecting Randle and Anunoby as long as they can to avoid any setbacks.
The problem right now — and maybe until the season ends, if you buy into what the Knicks are hinting — is that their former bench pieces have been pushed into starting and starring roles. In their place, the Knicks are just not getting the production they need from the next layer of the roster.
Isaiah Hartenstein has emerged as a force in the middle in place of Robinson, but he’s supposed to be the backup center. Deuce McBride is a two-way threat — a tenacious, length-of-the-floor defender and a steady three-point shooter — but he’s now a 40-minute-a-night starter. Hart, the do-everything hustler, now has to start and carry the offense at times as the Knicks try to buy some rest for Jalen Brunson, who is supposed to be on a minutes guideline.
“The thing is he’s got to go to the bench sometime, and right now when he’s out, we’ve got to find a way to manufacture some points,” Thibodeau said of Brunson. “But at the same time, you’re trying to buy a minute or two for Josh, and you can’t forget: We have three starters out right now, so normally you have two starters on the floor with your second group. But we’ve got more than enough.”
But maybe they don’t.
Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic, obtained in a trade-deadline deal to boost the bench with experience and offensive firepower, have regressed wildly from the 40% three-point shooters they were in Detroit. Burks is shooting 30.4% from three-point range and 31.6% overall since joining the Knicks. Bogdanovic is better at 35.1% from outside the arc but a worse defender.
Brunson had 61 points in the overtime loss in San Antonio on Friday and 30 — including the potential game-winner with 4.1 seconds remaining, a driving layup on which he was knocked to the floor without a foul being called — Sunday against Oklahoma City. Those games were lost not at the buzzer but during Brunson's brief turns on the bench. A 12-point lead was cut to one in little more than two minutes at the start of the fourth quarter Sunday as he rested.
Thibodeau’s favorite statistic is net rating, and the Knicks are plus-8.3 with Brunson on the floor and minus-3.5 when he is off the floor. But since the trade-deadline deals, the numbers have jumped to plus-10.9 and minus-11.9.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to, when JB’s out, to get good looks, quality looks, get guys in the proper position, play to their strengths,” Hart said. “I think that’s one of the big things.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
