Knicks Injuries: Brunson avoids long-term injury, Randle and OG closer

The Knicks had to play a basketball game because there is this thing called the National Basketball League that happens to have a set-in-stone schedule that never stops churning out matchups on a daily basis, and which is also a league the organization has been a member of since 1949 (or 1946 if you’re picky).

They had to do so without having three of their on-paper starters available. You already know the names, ordered chronologically by when they suffered their injuries: Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle, and OG Anunoby.

And of course, the Knicks kept filling their shelves with more damaged goods as Jalen Brunson had to leave the court not even a minute into what ended up being another W in New York’s season.

The moment I saw Brunson jump and fall back to Earth in pain I nearly died of a heart attack. The moment I saw Brunson grabbing his leg in (more) pain I feared the worst. The moment I saw Brunson try to get up and walk and go down again, well, that pretty much sealed the idea of a season-ending-type injury, folks.

Bullet. Dodged.

“He bumped knees. That’s what happened,” Tom Thibodeau said after the game. “He got the X-rays, was examined by the doctor. Everything was negative. We’ll see where he is [Monday].”

Not only that, but Thibs didn’t rule out a return in time for Tuesday’s game against Atlanta at Madison Square Garden.

“I guess (he could play),” said Thibs. “It’s a knee contusion and everything was negative, so we’ll see where he is tomorrow.”

While it wasn’t clear how the injury happened or if there was contact at any point before Brunson went down, there could have been some banging of knees between JB and fellow Knick Isaiah Hartenstein before Brunson hoisted the shot ending with him on the floor.

“I don’t think [there was contact with me],” Hartenstein said. “I saw him on the video keep running. I didn’t feel much.”

That’s great news (to the extent getting your best player injured even though not as bad as feared can be great), and there were even more positive things coming off Sunday’s matchup against the Cavs, the only one the Knicks will play on the road between now and Mar. 14 when they’ll visit Portland.

“Just the next step now that they’re doing more on the court,” Thibodeau told reporters about the trio of injured Knicks starters before tip-off. “All three of them—[Randle] is working on the court. He’s doing stuff in the weight room. Stuff like that. He’s taken some light contact [with pads] but nothing with a player yet. So that’ll be the next step.”

Randle, Anunoby, and Robinson traveled to Cleveland with the rest of his teammates and the full New York contingent for the first time since getting shelved, another positive point and an extra milestone in their rehab process.

”It’s the next step now that they’re doing more on the court,” Thibodeau said. None of the three, however, has yet been cleared for full on-court contact nor faced real opposition in practices while rehabbing.

“[Randle] is making really good progress, so we’re hopeful that it’ll be soon. You wanna make sure that medically the doctors feel good about it; he feels good about it. And then once that happens—and he’s doing just about everything. He’s taken some light contact but nothing with a player yet. So that’ll be the next step,” Thibs revealed on Sunday morning.

According to Steve Popper of Newsday, there is optimism Randle could avoid surgery entirely, now or later this year/offseason.

“The way [the rehab] is going so far, I think he’s meeting all his markers. I think he feels good. So we’ll just see how it unfolds. I think we’re hopeful he’ll be fine,” Thibodeau said, “but you want to make sure that medically the doctors feel good about it [and Randle] feels good about it.”

We last received an injury update from Thibs on Thursday, when he shared some information about the status of Randle and mostly Anunoby on the day the Knicks fell to the Warriors.

Back then, coach Thibodeau announced the clearance of OG to perform shooting drills and other on-court activities starting last Friday. With OG joining Randle and Mitch on the plane to The Land on Sunday, it’s fair to assume things are progressing nicely with no setbacks impacting any of the three players.

“[Anunoby] has been cleared for on-court work,” Thibodeau said. “He can shoot, dribble, pass—no contact yet. We’ll start that tomorrow. It’s premature [to predict when he can play]. He just cleared this next step. So all basketball activity aside from the contact will be the next thing. And then once that happens, he’ll be back.”

No official timelines handed out yet, but the whispers about a mid-March return kind of align with what we’re hearing from Thibodeau and what is happening around New York these days. Fingers crossed. Go Knickerbockers!