The Knicks point guard came up limp with 7:45 left in the first quarter of Wednesday’s 112-101 defeat to the Kings when he twisted his right ankle while dribbling near the 3-point line.
There was no contact on the play — Brunson just tried to plant his foot and it turned, underscoring the instability of the tendon.
Brunson hobbled through a couple of more possessions before being subbed out, then retreated to the locker room for the remainder. He finished with five points, his lowest in almost two years.
In a potential positive sign, Brunson left the arena without crutches or a walking boot, only a small limp. The Knicks said they will provide an update before they face the Warriors on Thursday.
It’s the same right ankle that sent Brunson into a month of recovery last season because of a sprain. Brunson sprained it again in November of this season and missed two games.
He turned it a couple of times in the playoffs, as well, but managed to recover without missing games.
This time? It was hard to predict the severity so soon after the injury, but the turn didn’t appear too severe. Either way, Wednesday was further evidence the Knicks are lost without their star point guard.
“We didn’t respond. We didn’t respond at all,” coach Mike Brown said. “I got to give the Kings credit because they took it to us. And we didn’t respond in any way, shape or form. But even before Jalen got hurt we weren’t following the game plan. And I’m not sure why. But we were kind of just out there just going through the motions. And if you go through the motions in this league, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to get your behind kicked. And we got our behind kicked.”
The Knicks (25-15) were trailing 16-8 when Brunson left. They never recovered against the Kings (11-30), who have mostly stunk this season but are winners of three straight.
New York shot an abysmal 8-for-41 from deep, with its deficit always in double digits after halftime. Karl-Anthony Towns had an opportunity to shine as the featured scorer without Brunson, but instead shrunk and finished with just 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting in 33 minutes.
Miles McBride, who replaced Brunson at point guard, shot 4-for-14, including 2-for-8 on treys.
On the other side, the Knicks were dissected by an old friend, Precious Achiuwa, who dropped a season-high 20 points with 14 boards in 39 minutes. Russell Westbrook, at 37-years-old, added 17 points and 11 assists.
“Our defense was embarrassing,” said Josh Hart, whose team has lost six of their last eight games. “Our effort was embarrassing. It didn’t matter who was out there.”
It was an overall embarrassing display and a disappointing evening for Brown, who was canned about a year ago by the Kings.
The coach returned Wednesday to adulation. Reporters fawned over him in his pregame presser.
“I can say this personally and professionally, what happened to you was cold blood, brah,” a Sacramento scribe said into the microphone.
The appreciation was easy to understand. Brown resurrected the franchise from irrelevance during his 2 ½ seasons, which ended abruptly and without a real explanation for the firing.
After his dismissal, the Kings retreated back to lottery-bound but apparently can still beat the Knicks — easily — without Brunson.
“This is one of the worst — if not the worst — that I’ve seen us play the entire year in terms of following the game plan and keeping the game simple,” Brown said.
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