Alec Burks close to returning to Knicks
Alec Burks #18 of the Knicks and Tyler Herro #14 of the Miami Heat battle for the loose ball at Madison Square Garden on February 7, 2021. Credit: Getty Images/Mike Stobe
As the Knicks head toward the finish line of the regular season, they are getting closer to playing at full strength — or something close to it. They clinched at least a spot in the play-in tournament when the Bulls lost Saturday and currently sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Alec Burks is with the Knicks on the road trip and joined them for the shootaround, as well as Saturday’s practice session. But coach Tom Thibodeau said he still is not quite ready.
"He’s getting a lot closer," Thibodeau said. "He’s still day- to-day. We’ve had guys in and out all season long. We’ll see where he is conditioning-wise. A guy like Alec, I think he’ll adjust really quickly."
Burks last played April 14 before being sidelined because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. He has missed eight games, including Sunday against the Rockets in Houston.
Burks is not the only one missing who could return. Thibodeau spoke Saturday of possibly getting back Mitchell Robinson before the end of the season. Robinson, who has been sidelined with a broken foot since March 27, has been progressing but has not done any on-court workouts yet.
"I feel like that’s the goal," Immanuel Quickley said of getting a full squad in place for the end of the regular season and the postseason. "We want to continue to get better. You can never be good enough. You just want to continue to sharpen everything. Offensively, you want to continue to just play the way we’ve been playing, sharing the ball, getting in the lane, creating for our teammates. And then defensively, I think we’ve been really good — ball pressure, help-side defense, talking, trusting each other.
"And then with Alec and Mitch coming back, those are two guys, vets, that obviously know what they’re doing. Alec can score the ball in a variety of ways. Mitch is just like Nerlens [Noel], blocking shots everywhere. So we’ve got two great shot-blockers. So it’s going to be tough for teams when we get both of those guys back."
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.
