It was a tough weekend for the New York Knicks. They kicked off their five-game West Coast trip with a back-to-back in Los Angeles, and things immediately went south. Despite holding a sizable lead for most of Thursday’s matchup against the red-hot Lakers, New York ended up in overtime, where Jalen Brunson went down with an ankle injury. Brunson landed on the foot of Austin Reaves, experiencing a brutal rolled ankle that sent him back to the locker room after hitting two free throws. While the injury looked scary for NY’s captain, initial reports are that Brunson dodged the worst and will be re-evaluated in two weeks. On Friday, the short-handed Knicks only mustered 95 points in an ugly loss to the Clippers.
It’s been a tough three-game losing streak for the team, and they still have three more road outings on the West Coast. However, there’s a silver lining to every tragedy. For Tom Thibodeau, this allows other guys to get more touches and regain confidence as the playoffs approach. As long as Brunson is able to return healthy, his injury could end up benefitting the Knicks.
3 Knicks Players Who Must Step Up in Brunson’s Absence
1. Mikal Bridges
This is the obvious one. The noise surrounding Mikal Bridges‘ brutal last month has gotten louder, and deservedly so. Knicks fans are frustrated with his lack of offensive aggression lately, especially considering the five first-round picks they sent to Brooklyn to acquire him. Prior to Friday’s game, Bridges had scored more than 15 points just once in his last 12 outings, posting single digits three times in that span. The truly startling thing about Bridges’ struggles has been his unwillingness to create contact in the paint. He’s averaging an absurdly low 1.1 free-throw attempts per game, down from 3.9 last year. The former Net seems tentative to drive to the hoop and would rather settle for fadeaway jumpers, even when he has a size and strength mismatch.
Even with Brunson in the lineup, this production from Bridges won’t cut it if NY plans on making a deep playoff run. They traded their future away for him, and he must be an elite player and a legit third option to justify the price. Luckily, Brunson’s injury should force his Villanova teammate to up his usage and be more aggressive. We saw the first fruits of this concept in the loss to LAC, where Bridges dropped 22 points on 8/12 shooting along with 6 of 6 from the charity stripe. Bridges can be more aggressive still, as he only took 12 shots and one three, which won’t cut it as the lead ball-handling scorer. However, it was a step in the right direction.
We all know Mikal can create his own shot at a high volume. Just this season, he had 41 points on Christmas Day and has 22 20-plus point games. Two years ago, he averaged 26.1 points a night in 27 games for Brooklyn. It seems as if he’s lost his confidence a bit in his new reduced role. However, this stretch will give him a chance to regain it.
2. Miles McBride
Before Brunson went down in LA, there had been chatter for weeks that Miles McBride deserved a larger role. I have campaigned for him to take some of Josh Hart‘s minutes while Hart’s shooting slump destroys NY’s spacing. McBride is both the Knicks’ best off-ball shooter and on-ball perimeter defender. There is no reason he shouldn’t be averaging high-20s in minutes, even when Brunson returns.
Well, Thibodeau will now be forced to give him huge minutes. He played 33:38 against the Clippers and struggled mightily as the starting point guard, going 2 for 13 from the field. Regardless, McBride deserves a chance to earn a bigger playoff role, and this is a perfect opportunity to see if he has what it takes. The game results don’t matter that much with NY comfortably in the third seed. New York should also use him less as a primary ball-handler and more as an off-ball scorer like he will be when Brunson returns. Hart, Bridges, and Tyler Kolek should also get the reps bringing the ball up the floor.
3. Karl-Anthony Towns
This one is short and sweet. Karl-Anthony Towns is Brunson’s partner in crime, his second option. Although so much of Towns’ offense comes from his pick-and-roll pairing with JB and the spacing Brunson’s playmaking creates, he needs to turn up the intensity while the captain is out. The Knicks require much higher volume from KAT during this stretch if they want any hope of winning games. Towns is in the midst of a pretty rough four-game span, averaging 16.3 points on 37.5% from the field. New York will need something closer to 30 a night to tread water without Brunson.
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