This doesn't happen often, but in the Knicks' come-from-behind victory over the Spurs on Christmas Day, Jalen Brunson's wayward shots didn't stay on the floor for much of the fourth quarter.
The All-Star point guard entered the game with 7 minutes, 16 seconds left with the Knicks leading by eight points and didn't check in for Miles McBride until 2 minutes, 17 seconds left.
With Brunson on the bench, the Knicks defeated San Antonio 18-9, taking a one-point lead and winning their fifth straight game.
He finished with 20 points, but made just 7 of 23 shots from the floor.
“I was just reading the game,” Tom Thibodeau explained after the game. “Actually, he was in the scorer's box, but the game continued. We could have used a timeout, and we needed a timeout to actually advance the ball.
“But the game was going in a good direction, so we were waiting for a dead ball. For him, it was as simple as giving him a minute or two and then taking a timeout and getting the rest he needed. It was supposed to be a break. And he's usually good at that. He'd tell me, “I'm ready.” And when he's ready, I'm ready too. ”
Mikal Bridges led the Knicks with 41 points, and Josh Hart said afterward that recent games showed “we don't need JB to go out there and score 30 points for us to win.”
“For him, he doesn’t care,” Hart added. “His main goal is to win and he is happy with that.”
After Friday's game in Orlando, the Knicks close out 2024 with back-to-back games against the league-worst Wizards in Washington on Saturday and Monday.
Between this twin bill and the home game against the Jazz to start the new year, five of the seven games will be decided against teams chosen by lottery.
The Knicks also won games against the Jazz and Pelicans before Christmas.
“They're an NBA team, the best of the best, and I mean, on any given night, that's what makes NBA basketball special,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “They're the best basketball players in the world, the best of the best in the world. Any night you could have lost at any time. All of these teams are playing with pride. … There were some dogfights, and we came together. We had to take the lessons we learned throughout the season and apply them to training camp.”
“We know we're crossing the finish line, but no team in the NBA takes anything for granted.”
mitchell robinson (Out, ankle) He is the only player on the Knicks' injury report. Paolo Banchero (oblique), Franz Wagner (diagonal), Moe Wagner (knee) and gary harris (The hamstrings) are doing magic.
