Knicks' Quentin Grimes questionable with right shoulder contusion
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) is defended by Knicks guard Quentin Grimes (6) during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first round playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 21, 2023. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Quentin Grimes has been a key piece for the Knicks this season, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. He has taken on the task of defending the opposing team’s best perimeter threat — in the Cavaliers’ case, Donovan Mitchell.
But Grimes left Game 3 late in the second quarter Friday with what the team called a right shoulder contusion. He is listed as questionable for Sunday’s Game 4.
“We’ll see tomorrow,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We just did film today. He’s feeling a little better. We’ll see where he is [Sunday].”
Thibodeau wasn’t precise about where or how Grimes suffered the injury, but with the Cavaliers running him through an array of screens to free up Mitchell, he said, “There’s a lot of contact going through screens. So it could have happened on any one of those.”
Jericho Sims was listed as out for Sunday with a sore right shoulder.
NY fans celebrate
While it was wild inside Madison Square Garden, it might have been wilder on the streets outside the arena Friday night as the fans celebrated long into the night, celebrating as if it were a championship earned rather than just one game in a best-of-seven series.
Jalen Brunson has seen his favorite football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, set off chaos after their postseason success. And this one echoed that.
“It’s impossible not to see that,” Brunson said. “New York fans are great. When they’re excited, it’s amazing to see. It’s the best fan base I’ve ever seen.”
Maybe the city wasn’t as well prepared as Philadelphia, which has taken to greasing lamp posts to keep fans from climbing them on the city streets. Fans were able to make their way up the posts Friday.
“I didn’t see that,” Brunson said. “But Knicks fans, they’re amazing.”
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.
