Walking Wounded

After a too-close-for-comfort win against the undermanned Grizzlies, New York's most important player is the latest to get banged up.

Good morning! That sure was a lot more stressful than I anticipated…

Game 51: Knicks 123, Grizzlies 113

In a New York minute…

This one started off about as you’d expect, with Jalen Brunson running roughshod over the Grizzlies with 17 first quarter points. New York built a nine-point lead after one despite some early hot Memphis shooting, and the advantage ballooned to 24 midway through the second. The Knicks maintained a comfortable advantage into the fourth quarter despite continued strong outside shooting from the ragtag Grizzlies, who were missing essentially all of their normal rotation players due to injury. But with just over nine minutes left in the game, Memphis made the unlikeliest of runs, eventually closing the gap to four points with under two remaining. The Knicks ultimately pulled it out, but the win didn’t come without a cost…

Three Things

1. Brunson burned. Here was what I wrote to kick off yesterday’s Substack game thread:

I don't have much to say about the game tonight, other than “please God don't let anyone else get injured en route to what better be an easy-ish win.”

Clearly, I have no one but myself to blame.

This ankle turn came with 5:31 to go in the game, with the Knicks up 105-95. They’d been up by 26 just a few minutes earlier, but after consecutive Memphis 3-pointers cut the lead to 20 with 8:08 to go, Tom Thibodeau re-inserted Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein for Malachi Flynn and Taj Gibson (playing for Jericho Sims, who was out with an illness). Thibs hoped that it would quash any hopes of a comeback. Instead, the Grizzlies outscored New York 12-2 during that two and a half minute stretch.

Can an injury add insult to injury? Or is it just more injury to injury?

Regardless, Brunson walked off on his own but immediately went to the locker room, where he later emerged without a noticeable limp. Here’s what Donte DiVincenzo had to say after the game, according to Ian Begley:

“Playing with Jalen for so long, I asked him ‘are you good’ and he said, ‘I’m good.’”

Begley noted that DiVincenzo didn’t seem overly concerned about Brunson’s ankle, and then reported after the game that the feeling was Jalen had avoided a severe sprain.

Obviously all of that is encouraging, but it was impossible to feel great after this one. Whether the prevailing emotion was annoyance, anger, or something in between, anyone who has watched this team over the last few weeks had a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach that something like this was in store. With the minutes these guys have been playing, it was just a matter of who and when.

Hopefully it’s nothing serious and Brunson will be back in no time (and the same goes for Josh Hart, who appeared to injure his knee on a fall in the fourth quarter, but like Brunson, had no issue walking out of the locker room after displaying a noticeable limp on the court).

Either way, this team is as desperate for a break as any in the NBA, regardless of whether they bring in a healthy body or two before the deadline.