An injury to a team’s best player can be devastating to their short and long-term goals, clipping the head off a snake that can either wither or use the opportunity for growth in response.
In the case of this year’s Knicks and Jalen Brunson’s ankle injury suffered in early March, management and fans could only hope for the latter coinciding with a return prior to the playoffs.
Luckily for all parties, this appears to be coming to fruition, exceedingly so. Enough to even suggest, was this Brunson injury the best thing that could have happened to this Knicks team?
Consider where they were when Brunson went down. New York was a strong 40-22, but they struggled against top teams and were dealing with some underlying issues. Their top five-offense had slid a bit from a near-top spot, their defense was below average and individual guys didn’t look like themselves.
Brunson was coming off a daunting nine-game stretch, averaging close to 38 minutes and 29 points, after playing nearly the entire season as the team’s primary ball handler and offensive engine. In the meantime, his key teammates were sidelined as Brunson took charge of the offense.
Mikal Bridges, who the Knicks traded five first-round picks to acquire, averaged 12.7 points in the 10 games prior to Brunson’s injury, with multiple single-digit performances. OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns were trying to work through injuries, while the bench still had major questions surrounding it.
The team was also lacking in identity. While their offense was spearheaded by Brunson, it thrived most when depending on ball and player movement, instead of hero ball.
New York started its season with a middle-of-the-road assist rate, but from New Year’s to Brunson’s injury, they dropped to bottom-five in the league. The ball got too sticky, the offense too isolation-reliant, which dominoed to hurt the team in a few ways.
Their defensive identity from last year was gone, replaced by a weak shell of what it used to be. But in Brunson’s absence, the team has found ways to address many of these key issues, and it may coalesce in time for a playoff run.
The big news is Brunson should be back sometime in the regular season, giving him a few games to get right in time for the postseason. Outside of what his injury has done for his teammates, giving him a month of rest and a reset prior to the playoffs could be hugely beneficial, given the physical toll grinding for those 16 wins.
The rest of the Knicks have stepped up big time in Brunson’s absence, giving them confidence boosts and greater roles in an offense that could ignore them for stretches. These should pay major dividends once Brunson returns and the playoffs begin, with the team able to rely on his supporting cast more, and their comfort and aggressiveness in their roles at season-high levels.
Bridges has turned his game around, averaging 20 points and five assists on 60 percent shooting from two and 36 percent from three in the 14 games since Brunson went down. He’s attempted 41 free throws since the injury, compared to 66 in the 62 games prior.
Not much has changed schematically. It turns out if you simply give Bridges the touches and freedom to attack in pick-and-rolls, off hand-offs and even in isolation, he can produce. For whatever reason, this was a struggle prior to the injury, even in non-Brunson lineups, but hopefully this marks a big change in approach.
Similarly, Anunoby is on his biggest heater of the season, averaging 23 points since the injury and 28 in his last eight games. He too has found a new home at the free throw line, ...
