Karl-Anthony Towns missed Friday's win with a left knee contusion and was listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Nets at the Garden.
According to Tom Thibodeau on Friday, Towns went through shootarounds and warmups before the game against the Nets, but was deemed not comfortable enough.
The injury occurred during a collision with Chicago's Zach LaVine late in Wednesday's home game against the Bulls.
The Knicks were hoping that Saturday's off might give Towns enough time to prepare for Sunday.
The same was true for Myles McBride, Thibodeau said after McBride also missed that game with a left knee injury.
While Towns leads the Knicks in scoring (26.7) and rebounding (12.7), McBride has served as the team's sixth man, averaging 26 minutes and a career-best 10.7 points in 11 games this season.
Precious Achiuwa remains sidelined with a hamstring strain and is expected to sit out again on Sunday.
On Friday, after Brooklyn's Cam Thomas led the Nets to 43 points on 16-of-22 shooting, the Knicks gave credit to the guard's play.
They will have to face him again on Sunday and will try to hold Thomas to less than the 19 points he scored on Friday in the first quarter.
This was the second-most points scored in a single quarter by a player since statistics began in 1996.
“He hit some tough shots,” Thibodeau said. “It doesn't take much to motivate him. He's a prolific scorer. If you give him space, he'll take shots, so you have to let him play in the pack. No. Some of them defended well and he still has the ability to score. [them]”
OG Anunoby said the Knicks could have done a better job.
“[He was] Coming out of the screen too freely, [we were] “We're trying to make it as difficult as possible to get through the screen for the contest,” Anunoby said. “He hit some tough shots because he’s a great player.”
Sunday will be the first game for the Knicks, who were called for 21 fouls as a team, including Friday's controversial technical foul on Anunoby.
Afterwards, Thibodeau criticized the referees, saying, “We've been a team that doesn't commit a lot of fouls for a long time.We're a team that doesn't commit a lot of fouls.'' I see what's going on, but I don't like it. What's on display with Jalen isn't physicality. [Brunson] When he's using grabs, holds, etc. to get the ball up the floor. I don't care what they call it. You can call it tight, you can call it loose, but it has to be the same for both teams. ”
The Knicks head into Sunday looking for their second straight win of the season.
They won back-to-back games against the Heat and Pistons on October 30th and November 1st, but have won 3 wins and lost 4 since then.
