With New York Knicks captain Jalen Brunson out for a few weeks with a sprained ankle, the pressure has fallen on the rest of the team to step up in his absence. The results have been a mediocre 2-4 in that span so far. For instance, individuals such as Karl-Anthony Towns have been carrying the offense. Mikal Bridges has also been incredibly efficient. And Mitchell Robinson is proving the Knicks brass right for having faith he’d make a huge difference when healthy. On the other hand, they’re fresh off their worst performance of the year in their blowout loss to the injury-ravaged Spurs. They suffered a similar fate against the Hornets Thursday, once again highlighting the team’s weaknesses without their star man. Let’s look at the stock ups and stock downs from the Knicks recent stretch.
Stock Ups and Stock Downs From Recent Knicks Stretch
Knicks Stock Ups
Karl-Anthony Towns
This one is easy. At times, KAT is the only player doing anything on offense for the Knicks. He carried the load against the Warriors; leading all scorers with 29 points on 12-21 shooting in their unfortunate loss. Towns also dismantled the Heat and fought a losing battle largely by himself against the Spurs finishing with 32 points—his seventh straight 20-point game.
Making it all the more impressive, without a true point guard in the rotation and few natural ball-handlers, Towns is having to force his way into the paint to make things happen. Case in point, against the Spurs in the opening 20 minutes of the game, no starter other than Towns scored a bucket. Other starters were 0-20 in that span. Against the Heat, Towns scored 15 straight Knicks points in the second quarter to turn the game around.
KAT’s stock is definitely up in the Knicks recent stretch.
Mikal Bridges
Mikal Bridges looks far more comfortable with an increased role in the offense. At times, he’s passive and lost as the third or fourth option. But, being the main scoring option besides Towns has seen Bridges stock rise, punctuated by a remarkable walk-off buzzer-beating three edging Portland in OT. He had 33 that night, beginning a solid stretch of efficient games.
One of the major factors in the turnaround is his aggressiveness getting into the paint and going to the line. Previously averaging just over a free throw per game, it’s jumped to almost four per game in Brunson’s absence. He’s shot 17 free throws in his last five games, speaking to his increased aggressiveness. Bridges is also averaging over 60% shooting from the mid-range over that span and recently tallied an impressive .888 true shooting percentage against the Heat. His shot profile is still the same. He loves the mid-range pull up game, and he’s doing it more efficiently by cutting and looking for his spots more.
His defensive minutes have also improved, being paired with Miles McBride in the backcourt as a formidable defensive duo.
The question remains, will Bridges return to being a peripheral figure when Brunson returns? It’s incumbent on coaching to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Mitchell Robinson
Full credit to Robinson, working his way back to full fitness, he’s been phenomenal on the defensive end since returning. That provides a tantalizing glimpse of what a front court of him and Towns would look like for longer stretches with two 7-footers to contend with.
Per Knicks Muse on X, the Knicks have the second-best defensive rating in the league since Robinson returned from injury. His best game by far came against the Spurs, where he put up a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds in just 17 minutes.
Knicks Stock Downs
Tom Thibodeau’s Lack Of Attention
Thibodeau’s lack of attention to detail in a portion of these games is quite striking, especially in their blowout loss to the Spurs. Thibs likes his teams playing drop coverage, but there was no weak side help all night; thus, Sandro Mamukelashvili was always open at the top of the key from the pick-and-pop action. Mamu went 7-7 from three and 13-14 from the field for a ridiculous 34 points in 19 minutes—the most points by a player in under 19 minutes in NBA history.
With almost all his three-pointers from the same action, it’s hard to justify how that wasn’t fixed by the coach.
Poor shooting nights happen even for the best teams, but to play that badly against the Spurs—a team playing for the draft lottery—is a poor look, not to mention following it up with another blowout to the moribund Hornets.
Thibodeau’s Rotations
Josh Hart spent the Spurs post-game ominously talking about how the long road trip is wearing them down and they’re struggling to create without Brunson.
Mikal Bridges was vocal with coach Thibodeau about his small rotations and over-using his starters. Therefore, it made sense to consider expanding his rotation. Instead, Thibs did the opposite by shortening his rotation further against the Hornets despite being severely underhanded.
Even in the absence of their best player, they haven’t looked to expand their rotation to include the only other natural playmaker on their roster, Tyler Kolek.
Kolek is a rookie and will have his ups and downs, but he led the NCAA in assists with 7.7 and was Big East Player of the Year in 2024. He particularly excels at creating for others getting downhill and finishing with his left hand. With the Knicks struggling to run basic offensive sets in the absence of Brunson and players standing around, Kolek could at least get guys better spacing. He has his defensive drawbacks, but he has to learn by getting NBA minutes. Being thrown on down 15 with 60 seconds left doesn’t help anyone.
Thibodeau is overly stubborn, and his stock goes down as a result.
Payne-ful Bench
Cameron Payne has yet to find a shot he doesn’t like. Instead of running the offense off the bench and creating for others, he prefers to slingshot wildly all over the court. It’s truly a sight to behold.
Against Golden State, he put up a donut in ten minutes with just one assist. He also went 1-6 against the Lakers with one assist and Portland with one assist in recent Brunson-less games. He’s shooting just 22% from three this month.
Precious Achiuwa has been having a nightmarish run recently off the bench. He has no blocks, no assists, one steal and 10 total points in his last six games. These are horrible numbers, and his stock has fallen massively.
As has Landry Shamet, who scored double figures just once in March. Furthermore, has no assists for the month. It’s not like he’s been a huge threat from outside either; shooting 3-16 from three in their last five games, 33% for the year. Shamet also managed zero’s across the board in 19 minutes against the Hornets. This is unacceptable for their main scoring option off the bench.
The bench in general, apart from Robinson, is a mess. Their stock is down as it has been all year. Against the Hornets, the Knicks’ bench got outscored 30-0 in three quarters.
The Knicks have to hope it won’t be much longer until Brunson can return.
