Right ankles are plaguing the Knicks.
Saturday was too soon for Jalen Brunson. And Josh Hart joined him on the sideline.
Brunson missed his second straight game with a sprained right ankle during the 106-99 loss to the Suns at Madison Square Garden. He had been upgraded to questionable leading up to the game.
Hart was out, too, with right ankle soreness.
“He’s just a little sore,” coach Mike Brown said of Hart. “So we’re just going to be cautious, especially this time of year.”
Miles McBride and Mohamed Diawara started in their place.
Brunson suffered his ankle sprain in the loss to the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday. It was considered a minor sprain, noti.group’s Stefan Bondy reported.
But it’s the second time this year he sprained that ankle — he missed two games earlier in the year with a sprained right ankle.
Hart missed eight games with a sprain to that right ankle, but returned for three games prior to Saturday. And he returned with no minutes restriction for those three games. In Thursday’s loss on the road to the Warriors, he played 37 minutes.
Now, he is dealing with soreness.
Brunson and Hart are both considered day-to-day.
The Knicks have not been at full strength since Nov. 22, when Landry Shamet went out with a shoulder sprain during a loss to the Magic in Orlando. Shamet returned Thursday, with Saturday representing his second game back.
Tyler Kolek’s rough stretch continued Saturday.
He was a game-worst minus-17 in 17 minutes off the bench, recording just two points on 1-for-3 shooting from the field. He had three turnovers and just one assist.
Saturday was the Knicks homecoming game, with dozens of alumni at MSG to celebrate. Fans had a chance for autographs and pictures prior to the game.
Alumni also rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange earlier Saturday.
“Good night to be at the Garden, it’s alumni night,” Brown said. “To honor the guys that were before us is a good night because they laid the foundation helping this building become iconic and the Knicks being what they are today. Good night for those guys to be in the house.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
