Jalen Brunson has been officially diagnosed with a sprained ankle and is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game against the Mavericks.
Officials say Brunson may indeed miss the game, but he avoided a serious injury.
Considering Brunson sprained his ankle on Tuesday night and missed the end of the win over the Grizzlies at Madison Square Garden, it’s probably positive news that he is “questionable” and will not be ruled out. right.
Josh Hart, who was suffering from knee pain, was not listed on the injury report.
Even worse news for OG Anunoby and Quentin Grimes, who are both listed again.
Anunoby will miss his fifth consecutive game with an elbow injury. Nix had just been previously diagnosed with “elbow inflammation” on Wednesday, which he dubbed “bone spur inflammation.”
Grimes missed his fourth consecutive game due to a knee sprain.
Brunson sprained his ankle Tuesday with 5 minutes, 31 seconds left in the game and the Knicks leading by 10 points.
With the Knicks leading by 23 points at the end of the third quarter, one might have expected the point guard to rest for the final period. But after consecutive tries by Memphis cut the gap to 20 points, coach Tom Thibodeau called a timeout and reinserted Brunson with 8:08 remaining. .
It did not contribute to the score, and the Grizzlies quickly went on a 12-2 run before Brunson left the game.
He was seen leaving the arena Tuesday on crutches, with a noticeable limp, and without a boot. That was an encouraging sign. But he was treading carefully.
Thibodeau had no information or insight after the game and claimed the Knicks did not practice Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Hart underwent what Thibodeau characterized as “medical” tests for knee problems. He played through the pain and had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes.
The Knicks are trying to avoid a season sweep to the Mavericks, who beat Thibodeau’s team in Dallas last month despite sitting Luka Doncic.
It’s highly unlikely that both Doncic and Kyrie Irving will play, which is rare. They have played just 24 games together this season, largely due to Irving’s various illnesses.
Still, Irving was healthy in the last game against the Knicks, leading Anunoby to 44 points in 40 minutes.
The severely understaffed Knicks are relying more on Isaiah Hartenstein, who is dealing with his own Achilles pain issues, and power forward Precious Achiuwa. On Tuesday, they combined for 75 minutes.
“It’s going well. I’m just slowly coming back,” Hartenstein said of his return from missing two games due to Achilles tendonitis and being limited in minutes until last week. “We’re still on track and feeling good. We’ve got to keep accumulating wins and moving forward from there.”
