The Knicks will find out the extend of Miles McBride’s ankle sprain on Monday. McBride underwent an X-ray on Sunday after hurting his ankle. It came back negative. He will get an MRI on Monday, which will give the Knicks and McBride a more definitive timeline on a potential return to the court.
It would be surprising if McBride plays on Tuesday against Toronto. After that game, the Knicks will either play on Saturday or on Sunday. So McBride will have some time to heal.
Any stretch without McBride will be tough for the Knicks.
The 25-year-old is averaging a career-high 12 points per game and is shooting better than 45 percent from beyond the arc.
The Knicks could lean more on Tyler Kolek during McBride’s absence. Maybe they go more point-guard-by-committee off the bench.
New York has had some experience in navigating injuries this season. Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby have missed multiple games due to injury. Same goes for Landry Shamet.
Mitchell Robinson has been held out the lineup for precautionary reasons. Karl-Anthony Towns missed Sunday’s win over Orlando with calf tightness.
Through it all, the Knicks have held up pretty well.
They’ve won 13 of 14 at home and are 16-7 overall. On Sunday, New York went to Ariel Hukporti and the second-year center delivered.
Hukporti had seven rebounds, three blocks, two assists and hit all four of his free throw attempts.
Mikal Bridges was impressed by Hukporti on Sunday, but he wasn’t surprised.
“It’s tough,” Bridges said. “We’ve got a lot of talent out there, a lot guys who can play, and one of those situations where we’ve got KAT, Mitch, Yabu (Geurschon Yabusele) can go small, so sometimes he might not get out there, but he’s definitely talented and smart enough to play, so every time he gets his opportunity he’s gonna do really well. Definitely a big game from him tonight.”
Hukporti earned Mike Brown’s Defensive Player of the Game after the win.
“He was really good with his vertically, he came up with four 50/50 balls,” Brown said. “And then he had a play in transition where he showed one of his superpowers, which is his speed. He raced down the end and got a block when he was completely out of the play.”
New York also got big performances from Anunoby and Bridges on Sunday. Anunoby hit five of his seven triple attempts and had seven rebounds and four steals. Bridges had seven assists and led a strong effort by New York’s defense.
Brown was asked after the game about All-Star candidacies for Bridges and Anunoby.
“I think both of those guys are deserving. OG probably hadn’t played enough games yet but Mikal’s numbers are out of the roof here,” Brown said. “Obviously, KAT, in my opinion, is a no-brainer. Jalen is a no-brainer. But for us, the way that we’ve been playing, especially with the record that we have, I think have to start looking at other guys on the team; this is not a two-man band here.
“We have other guys who have stepped up and are having career numbers in certain areas. So hopefully this year, everybody will see that it’s Kat, it’s Jalen, it’s Mikal, if OG gets enough games it could possibly be OG. But trying to get those guys in when they quote unquote may not look sexy all the time, is the right thing to do because they impact winning and their numbers speak for themselves.”
They may not be looking at the right numbers, though. Anunoby’s advanced stats and shooting are strong. But it’s difficult to fully quantify his impact on defense with a number.
“I think when people look at like a box score, they look at points, more usage, more points you score, and they think those guys are the All-Star players, but I don’t know,” Anunoby said. “Winning is what matters, so I think maybe one day it’ll come, hopefully.”
Eric Samulski
