Will the New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson be in the lineup on Monday night against the Detroit Pistons?
After leaving Sunday’s win over visiting Milwaukee for about six minutes with an apparent shoulder injury, Brunson said anyone who wants to know about his status will “find out when the injury report comes out.”
Brunson scored 44 points in the 140-106 rout of the Bucks, but the Knicks’ most lopsided win of the season took a scary turn. Their franchise player left after having a shot blocked by Brook Lopez with 9:42 left in the third quarter and New York leading 85-65.
Brunson — who is averaging 25.5 points and a career-high 7.5 assists per game — motioned for a substitute and headed by himself to the Knicks’ locker room.
But he returned to chants of “M-V-P!” from the Madison Square Garden crowd with 3:34 remaining in the period. He scored 12 more points — including two 3-pointers — as the Knicks put the game away by outscoring the Bucks 29-18 before Brunson exited for good with 5:48 remaining.
“It’s inspiring,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “A great leader unites and inspires.”
Thibodeau said Brunson suffered a stinger in the shoulder area. Brunson appeared to be wearing a pad atop his shoulder during a postgame interview with MSG Networks.
“I feel great,” Brunson said then. “Felt well enough to go out there.”
The Knicks will complete the home back-to-back set against a Pistons team that also has plenty of reasons to feel good about itself amid what may be its first postseason push in six years.
Detroit has won 11 of 15 games to climb into eighth place in the Eastern Conference, just one game behind the Bucks and the Miami Heat, who are tied for sixth place and the final guaranteed playoff spot.
Cade Cunningham has fueled the Pistons’ surge. The guard, who was the first overall pick in the 2021 draft, is averaging 24.9 points, 10.1 assists and 6.1 rebounds over that 15-game stretch. Along the way, he has posted three triple-doubles, including 22 points, 18 assists and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s home win over the Toronto Raptors.
“He allows the game to come to him, and I think that’s the thing he’s doing at a high level,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He just made the simple play over and over again and trusted his teammates to knock down shots, which they rewarded him with assists.”
A win on Monday would push the Pistons two games over .500 for the first time since March 30, 2019 — a little more than a month before their most recent playoff appearance, when they were swept by the Bucks in a first-round series.
The teams have met twice this season. Behind 36 points from Brunson, New York won 128-98 in Detroit on Nov. 1. But Detroit returned the favor, getting a road win 120-111 on Dec. 7 as Cunningham had 29 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
