Jalen Brunson played in an NBA basketball game for the first time in four weeks on Sunday — as you’d expect, his rhythm was a little off, his conditioning was less than 100 percent.
Those things will come back with time.
The best sign for the Knicks on Sunday? Brunson didn’t hesitate in any of his movement on the court.
“Everyone always talks about the physical part about how you’re feeling. But mentally it’s just trusting (the ankle). Trusting your movement. Trusting the way you play and not second-guessing yourself,” Brunson said. “That was an adjustment, but I’m feeling a lot better.”
Brunson logged 34 minutes on Sunday — it was his first game since March 6, when he suffered a significant ankle sprain.
He didn’t have a hard minutes limit against Phoenix.
“With Jalen and (associate athletic trainer Anthony Goenaga), if there’s fatigue, he’ll tell us. And they’re watching him pretty closely,” Thibodeau said.
Brunson said his conditioning was better than anticipated. That’s probably because he was diligent in his conditioning during rehab.
“Right now, it’s more his timing,” Thibodeau said. “He’s got to play. There’s no way around that. He practiced well the other day but the intensity of practice can never be replicated to what the game is.”
Brunson will have four more games before the postseason. If he plays in three of those games, he will be eligible for end-of-season awards.
PLAYING UNTIL THE END
The Knicks need one win — or one Pacers loss — to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
IF and when they clinch the third seed, don’t expect them to rest in the final games of the season.
“As you head down the stretch, you want to check boxes,” Tom Thibodeau said after Sunday's win over the Suns. “You want a winning record at home, a winning record on the road. Fifty wins is good. You want the highest seed possible. And then you want to be playing well. So you go step by step. We’re not skipping over anything. And this is the approach we’ve taken all season long. We’re not going to change now so we think this’ll help prepare us for…
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