Knicks’ Jalen Brunson fractures hand in Game 7 loss to Pacers. How many injuries did New York Knicks have?

Though the Pacers were deserved winners in their Game 7 clash with the Knicks on Sunday night, there’s no way to ignore the multitude of injuries that New York has had to deal with, something that almost certainly played a hand in condemning them to elimination.

The Knicks are left to wonder what could’ve been

On Sunday night, in front of a packed Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks went down 130-109 in Game 7 of their series with the Indiana Pacers. With that Pacers will now face the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Knicks will be left with a whole lot of “What ifs”. To be clear, it’s not that the Knicks didn’t play well against the Pacers throughout the series. Quite the contrary. The problem is that New York was progressively hindered by mounting injuries.

With that said, let’s start by acknowledging the work that the Pacers did on the night. Indeed, with six players in double figures, it was clear that the Pacers unlike the Knicks were healthy and firing on all cylinders. Chief amongst them was Tyrese Haliburton who scored 26 points with six assists, showing an aggression and tenacity on offense that he’d been missing throughout much of the series. The All-Star point guard shot 10-for-17 from the field, including 6-for-12 on 3-pointers. Yet, we’ve got to come back to the central point: The Knicks were derailed by injuries, an idea that was perhaps best encapsulated by the words of Donte DiVincenzo post game. “There’s only so much you can overcome,” he said.

What injuries did the Knicks have to cope with?

Truthfully, the Knicks’ problems started even before the playoffs began with the loss of Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson during the regular season, with the former undergoing season ending surgery. Robinson as you know was able to return, but not for long before he suffered an ankle injury against the 76ers. It wasn’t long before he was joined by Bojan Bogdanovic - a crucial player off the bench - who also succumbed to an ankle injury. This of course brings us back to the Eastern Conference semifinals which the Knicks just lost to the Pacers.

During these seven games, we watched as the OG Anunoby was lost to hamstring soreness, while minutes leader Josh Hart was felled by what appears to have been an abdominal injury. Both men returned for Game 7 but it was clear that neither were themselves, with Anunoby only playing five minutes of the game. Indeed, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau spoke directly to the point when discussing the big man. “Just the way he was moving,” Thibodeau said. “I didn’t think it was worth it.”

Sadly, it didn’t end there for New York as there was further insult added to injury in the closing stages of the team’s final game of the season. It was Jalen Brunson who added his name to the extensive list of injured players when he left the game late in the third quarter after fracturing his hand trying to defend Tyrese Haliburton on a fast break. On the night, Brunson registered 17 points on 6-for-17 from the field to go with 9 assists on 29 minutes of playing time. If there was a positive for the Knicks, it would have to be Donte DiVincenzo who led the team with 39 points in a performance that was truthfully the only thing worth smiling about for New York. That said, there is something to be admired in the mentality that New York displayed. Resilient all season and scrappy in the playoffs, the Knicks have reason to hold their heads high regardless of the outcome.

“I would say that I love the fact that we fought night in, and night out,” Brunson said. “I just love this group of guys we have, and our mindset of the group was strong. Some nights when we may have not had what people were capable of winning, our mindset is what pushed us over that hump. I’m definitely proud of what we were able to do this year and proud of how we fought. Obviously, the outcome is not what we wanted, the way we fought was awesome.” Indeed it was New York, indeed it was.