Knicks' Jalen Brunson Laments Josh Hart's Injury After G6 Loss: 'Add It to the List'
Joseph Zucker@@JosephZucker
Featured Columnist IVMay 18, 2024
New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson provided a matter-of-factly to another injury that could leave the team further shorthanded.
Josh Hart was forced to exit Friday's 116-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers in the 2024 NBA playoffs due to what the team called "abdominal soreness."
Brunson told reporters that "I guess you can just add it to the list" when referencing the situation.
Hart's status for Game 7 on Sunday is unclear, but Brunson doesn't believe the 6'4" guard is going to miss such a pivotal contest.
Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein is similarly confident about Hart's availability.
No question for New York looms larger than whether it can simply make it to the finish line.
OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, Bojan Bogdanović and Julius Randle were all out Friday night. Of that group, only Anunoby has a shot at returning at some point in the postseason, though he, like Hart, is uncertain for Game 7.
Being down so many key players has put an added strain on those who are healthy. Hart, Brunson and Anunoby have all averaged 40-plus minutes per game during the playoffs. In Game 6, none of the Knicks' five starters logged fewer than 31 minutes on the floor.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau is known for leaning heavily on his vets, which is a great recipe for winning in the regular season, but New York is seeing the downside of that approach.
Coaches always shrink their lineups in the postseason. Seven- or eight-man rotations are pretty common.
Thibodeau is finding himself in a position where he needs other players to step up, and those players didn't get the kind of run in the regular season that would fully prepare him for the playoffs.
It's less about overtaxing his starters and more Thibodeau creating a situation where his only Plan B is just leaning even harder into Plan A. Having Obi Toppin, for example, would've come in handy right now. If only he hadn't been traded for a marginal return after it seemed clear the coach didn't rate him all that highly.
Whether or not Hart suits up for Game 7, you can't help but wonder whether the die is already cast for the Knicks. They fall short against Indiana or advance and run out of steam in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics. Either way, the outcome is pretty much the same.