Jalen Brunson seems likely to miss the Knicks’ game on Tuesday in Portland. He was spotting wearing a walking boot on Sunday night, according to Peter Botte of the New York Post.
“Just continue to do his treatments and we’ll see where he is. When he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go,” coach Tom Thibodeau said of the Knicks’ star guard. “It’s not Jalen by himself. It’s Jalen with the medical. So he’s got a say in it, but the medical has to clear him. So there’s a number of people involved in a decision. We’re not going to put him in harm’s way.”
Brunson said the boot isn’t as ominous as it might appear. He wore it during the Lakers game as a protective measure in case it got kicked or stepped on and isn’t wearing it away from the court, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets.
We have more from the New York teams:
- Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein earned a $350K bonus by hitting his minutes requirement for the season, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. He needed to play at least 1,350 minutes to earn the bonus and surpassed that in the win over the Lakers. Hartenstein reached another $350K bonus threshold with the Knicks winning their 40th game on Sunday, New York Basketball tweets. He can collect one more $350K bonus in his contract if the Knicks make the playoffs.
- The Nets have won five of their last six games, thanks to an improved defense, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. “We had to challenge that group to shift the mentality of not thinking you have to score but to first of all let’s be a defensive-oriented team,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “I think we’ve responded, started to form an identity with this group and hopefully they realize that.”
- In another Lewis story, The Post’s beat writer notes that Royce O’Neale has exceeded the franchise’s expectations after acquiring him from Utah. He’s averaging career highs in points (9.0) and assists (3.7) per game while playing superior defense. “Whether I’m starting or coming off the bench, no matter how many minutes I’m playing, I’m going to play as hard as I can, do things that I got to do for us to win the game, and just be myself,” O’Neale said. His $9.5MM contract for next season is partially guaranteed for $2.5MM.
Without Brunson, Knicks defeated the Title Ready Lakers.
Give Knicks credit.
The Reporters truly believe that Lakers are title ready despite LeBron’s absent.
IMO,
New Look Lakers are scary good
Nets hanging in there. Gotta give them credit.
Knicks vs Lakers was a good gm. We still miss Jalen. I think everyone on the Knicks misses Jalen…..
Russell had a nice gm. I think he’s always wanted to be a Laker. He was hurt when they traded him. He and AD, Bron can make a strong core. That’s 70 pts a gm easy.
Love the perimeter D and cleaning of the Glass NYK does – Its consistent, its a staple, it wins games all year long
Lakers got out ran by a team on a long off coast road trip with one day less rest-
That’s heart showing from the Knicks, Lakers not soo much. They shouldn’t have gotten spanked in transition and on the glass as much as they did yesterday. To the hustle goes the spoils, well earned last night NYK
“perimeter D and cleaning of the Glass NYK”
It’s been so great to watch. The other night against the Kings, the rebounding (especially offensively) was what kept them in the game. Love seeing some vintage Knicks-style ball, the kind we haven’t seen in an eternity.
Just need that Sunday night RJ every night now
He really showed his strengths, which oddly enough are just super transparent (he’s usually 2 inches taller and 3.5 longer wingspan than his defenders )
Easy to say harder to do but I got a deeper look into how / why he got paid Sunday
Having guys like Hart, Brunson, Grimes and Mitch do give the team a 90’s Knicks feel.
Beyond everything mentioned above, the biggest move made this year was Thibs finally benching Rose and Fournier for Grimes and Quickly. We all know how much of a Thibs favourite Rose is, so it couldn’t have been easy for him to do. He finally showed some adaptability to his coaching, and the Knicks are 31-18 since (a 52 win pace over 82 games).
I’m excited to see what’s next. I’m starting to believe this is the summer to go all in, and the team actually has the assets and contracts to do so.
Brunson and Hartenstein signed as FA …..
How you like it now ………
Hartenstein has been a pleasant surprise, at least to me. He came billed as a finesse C, and I really didn’t see the fit. Physical C play had become a critical part of the team’s emerging identity. Not something I wanted to see them rotate out of in pursuit of a changing up the look. But Hartenstein has been more than up to it. He’s 3rd in the league in Offensive Rebound % (Mitch is 1st, since Adams lost qualifying status). He (2.7) and Mitch (4.3) average 7 a game. That and winning the turnover battle are why we can throw up concrete from 3 for most of a game and still have a chance to win. Great FA signing.