The Knicks’ first game without Jalen Brunson went as expected: hard-fought until the end, where New York missed its captain and All-Star clutch performer.
In Brunson’s first game out after spraining his right ankle against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, the Knicks predictably sputtered in their late-game offense and failed to reach the century mark in a 105-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
In the second leg of a road back-to-back to kickoff a five-game road trip, the Knicks shot just 9-of-34 from downtown. The looks weren’t quite as clean on Friday for a Knicks team used to Brunson manipulating both screens and defenders to create open shots for his teammates.
“It’s a quick turn-around [since Brunson’s injury]. You come in, you have a walkthrough in the ballroom, and then we have to adjust and adapt quickly,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said after his team’s third straight loss. “We have more than enough, and we have to find a way to get it done.”
Brunson is set to miss at least two weeks recovering from his ankle injury. If the Knicks are going to get it done without him, they will need their other All-Star starter to step up.
Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds in Friday’s loss to the Clippers, but shot just 8-of-21 from the field in what was considered a favorable matchup against Los Angeles’ Ivica Zubac.
Towns is in an extended shooting slump. He has missed 36 of his last 57 attempts from the field and was 3-of-15 from downtown in his previous three games before posting a 3-of-7 three-point performance on Friday.
“He’s still finding his rhythm,” Thibodeau said of Towns, referencing Tuesday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, a game the star big man missed due to personal reasons.
Towns also missed a Feb. 26 matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers due to knee soreness.
That doesn’t absolve him, however, of his inconsistencies in late-game scenarios for the Knicks.
Towns shot just 1-of-5 for two points in the fourth quarter of New York’s loss to the Clippers and took just two shots combined in the fourth quarter and overtime of Thursday’s loss to the Lakers.
“He had time off. So we gotta get him into rhythm,” said Thibodeau. “We’ve gotta work at that.”
Crunch-time offense is an area the Knicks will need to address as Brunson rehabs from his ankle injury. The All-Star floor general is tied with Atlanta’s Trae Young with 145 points scored in the clutch, which the NBA defines as the final five minutes of regulation or overtime of a game within a five-point margin.
Coincidentally, the Knicks entered the fourth quarter trailing the Clippers, 78-79, and didn’t score their first points of the period until there was 8:18 remaining in regulation. New York scored just one field goal in a three-minute fourth-quarter span.
“They’re a very good defensive team. Hard-fought game. Came up short in the end,” said Thibodeau. “We went in saying if the defense and the rebounding [were good] and the turnovers were down, we’d have a chance to win, and I thought we were in position to win tonight.
“And we fell short in the end.”
Towns did show signs of aggression in an attempt to chop into a seven-point Clipper lead with under five minutes left in the fourth. He put up a 30-foot three-pointer from near the Intuit Dome’s halfcourt logo and, on the next possession, attempted a step-back three.
One was an airball, and the other, a bad miss. The Knicks held the Clippers without a field goal from the 6:36 mark of the fourth quarter until there was 3:55 left in regulation.
There are some aspects of Brunson’s game the Knicks can replicate as a team, but they are going to need Towns to shoulder the load in late-game scenarios.
Thibodeau seemed optimistic his All-Star big man was willing to be aggressive and take those shots to cut into the Clipper lead.
“Guys want to win. So sometimes [late-game shot selection] can be misguided: you’re trying to do it like you want to win so bad, and you have to do it within the context of the framework of the team,” Thibodeau said. “But he’s a gifted offensive player and I’m not gonna measure every shot that he takes. If he thinks it’s open, I want him to be aggressive, and I want him to attack.
“He had time off, and now he’s gotta get in rhythm. He’ll get in rhythm. We know how good he is.”
Towns is averaging 5.8 fourth-quarter points per game this season. His 1.5 clutch points per game ranks fourth on the Knicks behind Brunson’s league-leading six points, and Josh Hart and OG Anunoby, who are tied a few notches under two clutch points per game.
With Brunson out, Towns, whose status as an All-Star starter and a $50 million player makes him the de facto co-captain, must put on the cape his teammate once wore.
The logistics could take some time. Without Brunson, Towns’ looks change, too, and so does the pressure he faces from opposing defenses with one less threat to game plan for until the captain returns to the court.
“A huge part of our team is missing. So next man up,” said Towns. “We’ve gotta be better, and we’ve gotta figure it out quick.
“We’ve all gotta step it up a level.”
