This isn’t an injury the Knicks are built to withstand.
The captain has gone down. Now who will steer New York’s ship?
All-Star Jalen Brunson strung together a masterpiece of a performance in his team’s rematch against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, stringing together 39 points and 10 assists on 13-of-26 shooting from the field and 12-of-13 shooting from the foul line.
And then he drove the paint in overtime and hit the ground hard before grabbing immediately behind his right calf.
Brunson rose to his feet after several moments in pain on the Crypto.com Arena floor. He made both free throws before the Knicks used a take foul to sub him out with 1:20 left in the extra session.
And as he limped through the arena corridors into the visiting team’s locker room, a once tied game fell in the Lakers’ favor in a 113-109 overtime loss, New York’s second to Los Angeles this season.
Brunson’s status is immediately unclear for the second leg of New York’s back-to-back in L.A. against the Clippers on Friday.
His injury comes at the worst time as the Knicks finally began to round into shape, welcoming back both Mitchell Robinson (ankle) and OG Anunoby (foot) back to the rotation coming out of the mid-February All-Star break.
If Brunson can’t go, the Knicks could bump Miles McBride into the starting lineup, though McBride shot 0-of-6 from the field and did not score against the Lakers late Thursday night.
The Knicks, however, never should have been in overtime to begin with. But they squandered a 13-point lead and blew an opportunity to win the game at the end of regulation.
With the game tied at 99 apiece and under one minute left in the fourth quarter, the Knicks mustered a stop on a Lakers offense supercharged by the Luka Doncic mega trade with the Dallas Mavericks. Against OG Anunoby’s defensive pressure, Doncic shot just 9-of-23 from the field and did most of his damage from the foul line, where he shot 10-of-12.
The Knicks trapped Doncic on their final defensive possession of regulation, then Josh Hart’s close-out forced a LeBron James missed three with just seconds left on the clock.
The Knicks used a timeout and put the ball in Brunson’s hands. As one of the NBA’s leaders in clutch moments, the Knicks’ guard has delivered with game on the line.
But this time, the Lakers double-teamed Brunson at half-court. Brunson attempted to split the double but ultimately rifled a pass to Hart, who lost track of the shot clock as the time expired at the buzzer.
With the game on the line, and a chance to steal a game on the road, the Knicks never got a shot off.
They also didn’t get enough out of Karl-Anthony Towns or Mikal Bridges.
Towns returned after missing Tuesday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors for personal reasons but shot just 3-of-13 for 12 points to go with 14 rebounds and five fouls on Thursday. Bridges attempted just six shots and finished with six shot attempts.
Anunoby finished with 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field, and Hart added 18 points and 10 rebounds, but the Knicks didn’t execute on the final possession of regulation.
And then Brunson went down in overtime. Now, the Knicks are in panic mode.
Meanwhile, the Lakers have won the ninth game of their last 11 outings. The Knicks now fall to 0-8 this season against legitimate championship contenders. The Lakers have punched themselves into the title conversation.
The Knicks now have bigger fish to fry. The sight of Brunson limping off the hardwood floors puts New York’s season at risk.
Next up, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, who will be playing their third game in four nights. The Knicks then get two nights off before facing the Sacramento Kings.
