SAN JOSE — Knicks star Jalen Brunson left Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center without crutches and under his own power after sustaining a right ankle injury five minutes into the team’s 112-101 loss to the Kings on Wednesday.
At the 7:01 mark of the first quarter, Brunson attempted to shoot a side-step three against Sacramento’s Maxime Reynaud but rolled his right foot on the move and immediately collapsed to the ground and grabbed his ankle. After limping around for one possession, he exited the game and went straight to the locker room.
“Honestly, we didn’t know what happened until halftime. We didn’t know what was happening. I feel like the first time we saw that it could be a little something was when the second quarter started and he wasn’t starting,” said Karl-Anthony Towns. “So the game was playing itself out, and we didn’t get a chance to emotionally react. But we came in at halftime understanding, seeing him, we understood what needed to transpire and what we needed to do. It was a next man up situation.”
Brunson has now injured his right ankle three times in the last calendar year. He missed 15 games with an ankle sprain sustained last March, then turned the same ankle again against the Orlando Magic in November, though that injury only cost him two games.
The Knicks ruled Brunson as questionable shortly after his injury, then downgraded him to out for the game at halftime, with his status in question for the second leg of the Knicks’ road back-to-back against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.
The Knicks went on to fall behind by as many as 25 points in their most lifeless — or “lackadaisical,” as Towns put it — performance of Mike Brown’s first season as Knicks head coach.
“We didn’t respond [to Jalen’s injury]. We didn’t respond at all. I got to give the Kings credit because they took it to us,” said Brown. “And we didn’t respond in any way shape or form. But even before Jalen got hurt we weren’t following the game plan. And I’m not sure why. But we were kind of just out there just going through the motions. And if you go through the motions in this league, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to get your behind kicked. And we got our behind kicked.”
The Knicks’ offense had already gone stagnant in the weeks coming out of their NBA Cup victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Wednesday, when Brunson left, marked one of the team’s most isolation-heavy performances, a game where the Knicks touched the paint regularly but failed to generate the spray threes Brown has clamored for since taking the job.
“I haven’t asked the guys [about playing too much hero ball], but I kind of told them what I saw,” said Brown. “But we had plenty of opportunities to play off of two feet and spray it. We just didn’t do it.”
Brunson is averaging 28.2 points on 48% shooting this season in Brown’s new offense.
“We always talk about next man up. It doesn’t matter. Our defense was embarrassing,” said Josh Hart. “Our effort was embarrassing. It didn’t matter who was out there.”
