Injury-ravaged Knicks refuse to use tired excuse after poor shooting game
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson gestures after throwing a pass out of bounds against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
As the minutes wore down toward the end of Saturday night's game against the Lakers, the 19,812 fans at Madison Square Garden — at least those who had not gathered for a glimpse of LeBron James — seemed to be waiting for the late-game heroics, one more comeback for a Knicks team that has made winning oddly regular.
But what mostly came was signs of exhaustion. James, at 39 years old and in the middle of his 21st season, looked spry while in his 40th minute, but the Knicks looked as if they ran out of gas as they saw their winning streak end at nine games.
Jalen Brunson finished with 36 points and 10 assists in 45 minutes — nearly every minute of it with multiple defenders swarming him.
“Jalen is playing at more than an All-Star level this year,” James said in an on-court interview after the game. “We know he’s the head of the snake. Just trying to wear him down through the fourth.”
Playing again without Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Quentin Grimes — in addition to Mitchell Robinson, who has been sidelined since early December — the Knicks had four of their five starters play at least 40 minutes (Isaiah Hartenstein was limited to 33 minutes by foul trouble).
Fatigued or not, they went nearly seven minutes down the stretch without scoring and shot 41.0% overall, including 28.6% from three-point range. After Brunson hit a three-pointer with 1:12 left in the third quarter to give the Knicks an 86-78 lead, they shot 3-for-20 and were outscored 27-10 in a span of 12:32.
“We were fine,” Brunson said. “We were in the game, we were making plays, we were missing shots.”
“You can make every excuse in the books if you want to,” Hartenstein said. “I think at the end of the day, we just missed shots. So we have to go back in the gym. We’re human beings at the end of the day. But we just have to be better in that we can’t miss those easy shots. And I think we had multiple times where we missed easy shots. So we just have to move on from that.”
To a man, the Knicks insisted that they got shots they wanted, that Brunson properly got the ball moving out of the double teams, and that they just misfired.
The Knicks — particularly coach Tom Thibodeau — bristled at the notion that the minutes load is an issue. With the team missing so many pieces, Thibodeau has limited the amount of practice time. They used eight players Saturday, but off the bench, Deuce McBride played 20 minutes, Jericho Sims 15 and Malachi Flynn only three.
The team seemed happy just to get Randle, sidelined indefinitely after dislocating his right shoulder, back on the bench. He was seated at the end for part of the game in street clothes.
“Yeah, for sure,” Josh Hart said. “He dapped me up with his right hand, so that was good. I would love for him to be out there Monday, man. That would be nice, him and Quentin, throw Mitch in there, OG, have everyone back. Reduce some minutes and have a party.
“We’re missing [Anunoby]. We’re missing his ability defensively, able to knock down shots. We’re missing Ju, All-Star for a very good reason, 25 and nine every night. Quentin’s ability to space the floor. I don’t think we’re missing just one guy. We’re missing three big guys and obviously Mitch has been out for months. But you know, when you’re missing four key players, three which are starters, it’s always tough. We’ve got to focus on the next man up, taking care of business.”
The Knicks (32-18), who have won 15 of their last 18 games, are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind third-place Cleveland and one game behind second-place Milwaukee.
The task figures to get a little easier Tuesday when the Knicks host Memphis — or whatever part of a roster the Grizzlies can put together. Memphis has been devastated by injuries that have left the team filling the boxscore with players added in league roster exemptions.
“Man, it’s tough to win in the league,” Hart said. “As you see so many times it doesn’t matter what the other team’s record is. We try to just go out there and focus on that . . . Whatever it is, our thought process is always the same.”
The thought process is simple: Do what is needed to win and then get some sleep.
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.
