It’s a close shave for Jalen Brunson, but a potential sneaky stinger for Mitchell Robinson.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau gave an update on the pair of starters who came up hurt in Friday’s loss to the Celtics after practice on Sunday.
Thibodeau said Brunson, who turned his ankle in the final seconds of regulation in Boston, is good to go to play at home against the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
Brunson was recorded walking without a limp when he and Josh Hart visited their alma mater, Villanova, for the Wildcats matchup against the UCLA Bruins on Saturday.
It was a close call on a freak play — but Brunson caught a lucky break.
Robinson, however, was not as fortunate and will need additional testing after he said he took “a wrong step” in the second quarter of the loss to the Celtics.
Isaiah Hartenstein started the second half, and Robinson re-entered at the 8:17 mark, then exited five minutes later and sat the remainder of the game.
He said he wanted to return to the floor, but that his foot got cold after a break on the sidelines.
“Yeah. I just had to warm up [but I] let it cool off,” he said postgame on Friday. “That’s the part that f—– me up.”
If Robinson can’t go, it’ll be Hartenstein who gets the nod as the starting five against the Raptors. Hartenstein tallied five points, 16 rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 29 minutes against the Celtics and has the trust of both Thibodeau and his teammates.
The Knicks believe they have the NBA’s best depth at the center position with Robinson and Hartenstein, and now that depth could be tested if the starting big man has to miss some time.
Jericho Sims is third on the depth chart at the five.
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Donte DiVincenzo shot two-of-six from the field and two-of-five from downtown for six points, four rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes in his start against the Celtics on Friday.
After he was moved to the bench, Quentin Grimes shot 5-of-10 from the field and three-of-seven from downtown for 13 points in Boston.
Divincenzo didn’t have any strong reaction to the news he’d gotten the start.
“I’ve started in this league the year we won a championship. Anybody could start on this team,” he said. “I think Quick [Immanuel Quickley]’s a starter, I think Josh [Hart]’s a starter, I think Isaiah [Hartenstein]’s a starter. So it is what it is.
“My number was called and I think playing alongside those guys is getting comfortable with it, getting familiar. And Quentin played his ass off tonight. I think he played well. So it was good.”
DiVincenzo said he’s not worried about the quality of his shots when playing alongside the starters.
“I’m a basketball player, man. I’m not worried about that,” he said. “I’m trying to win the game. But the way the league goes, everybody has to — there’s ways to tend to everybody. And I think we did a good job of that tonight, but like I said, the defensive side. That’s where our focus needs to be. I think that’s where it will be going forward.”
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The Knicks have given up 277 points in their last two losses against Boston and Milwaukee.
Prior to the Bucks game, the Knicks had only given up 120 points once: in Atlanta against the Hawks in the second game of the season.
Julius Randle listed “commitment level, intensity, recovering to the three-point line” and “all that stuff” as areas the team needs to improve on defense.
“Yeah it’s a trend the past few games,” he said when asked about the Celtics scoring 74 points in the first half alone. “So we’ve gotta address it and we’ll be alright.”
Robinson said the Knicks need to improve their communication on the defensive end.
“It just hasn’t been the greatest. It’s something we’ve gotta fix,” he said. “[When] we have good communication, we talk and we kind of get a head start of how everything will go. So that’s our game plan.”
The Knicks have a defensive rating of 138.8 in the last two games — though it should be noted their last two games were against the two-best teams in the Eastern Conference: the Bucks and Celtics.
“Yeah, it’s problematic. We got to fix our defense,” he said. “It starts individually. Better containment of the ball. Better ball pressure. Better challenging shots. And every aspect. I thought offensively guys did a good job trying to create advantages. The rebounding is good. But our defense has to be fixed.”
That said, the Knicks held the Celtics to just 108 points in a four-point loss at home in the season opener, held the Bucks to 110 points in a five-point loss in Milwaukee on Nov. 3, and had a setback defensively when Boston won, 114-98 on Nov. 13.
Giving up 146 and 133 points in back-to-back games was not supposed to be in the cards, regardless of the opponent.
“We were kind of chasing all game I feel a little bit to where we were giving up open threes,” said RJ Barrett. “So that kind of stops with the ball screen and just making sure we take care of that so they don’t just have easy opportunities.”