Knicks' Jalen Brunson scores 31 but exits late with ankle injury as team's winning streak ends at five
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson falls to the court after being fouled by Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. late in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The game was over, at least for all except the cleanup of the final minute and 52 seconds with the players from the end of the bench taking the court. And then Jalen Brunson went down hard on the court then hobbled directly to the locker room.
As painful as the 46 minutes and change that preceded it were for the Knicks, really this is the only thing that mattered as he was spotted leaving Madison Square Garden on crutches with his right ankle in a walking boot, a final injury to an insult of a night.
The game was already out of reach when Brunson drove to the basket and appeared to be trying to draw contact. But Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr., who had been physical all night, shifted out of the way and Brunson went down awkwardly, drawing the foul call and falling to the floor under the basket.
He shot the free throws and then departed, heading for the trainer’s room while the finishing touches on a 124-107 loss were completed.
Over a span of four straight games it had been like a celebration at Madison Square Garden, each night a chance to watch a dazzling offensive performance from the Knicks, scoring seemingly effortlessly from all over the court with speed and precision.
And then there was Wednesday night, when the party ended quickly with the Magic punching them in the mouth — perhaps too literally. The loss ended a five-game winning streak and was the Knicks’ first loss at home after a 7-0 start to the season.
Maybe it was a result of playing on the second night of a back-to-back set, Tuesday’s win over Memphis requiring more effort than necessary as a huge lead was cut in the second half. Maybe it was an inevitable case of reverting to the mean. Or maybe it was an opponent finding a flaw in the system.
“Got to give them credit,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “They came out with a physical presence that we didn’t handle well.”
“Definitely and we didn’t respond the way we should have,” Deuce McBride said. “You can blame it on the back-to-back, excuses, but there’s none of that.”
Brunson finished with 31 points on 10-for-23 shooting. Karl-Anthony Towns had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Orlando lost Paolo Banchero in the second quarter with a left groin strain but got a balanced attack led by Franz Wagner, who had 28 points, and Desmond Bane, who added 22.
But it’s hard to imagine the Knicks could have seen this coming. Through the first 10 games of the season the offense has steadily begun to look like a well-oiled machine with little falloff for Brunson and Towns while a player like OG Anunoby has been lifted to career-high numbers across the board.
The Knicks have scored at least 133 points in each of the last three games entering Wednesday’s meeting with the Magic. They went a stretch of four quarters between the second half against Minnesota and the first half versus the Nets in which they piled up 160 points.
But on this night, from the very start the Magic seemed to be in every passing lane and had a body colliding with every Knicks cut or drive. The Knicks countered mostly by complaining to the officials and when Towns was tied up with Jonathan Isaac early in the second period, the two exchanged shoves until Isaac hit the floor and Towns was called for the foul.
He argued loudly and long with referee Courtney Kirkland and seemed fortunate to avoid a technical foul.
But he wasn’t the only one. Later in the period Bane manhandled Brunson in front of the Knicks’ bench and in the final seconds of the half Brunson and Carter were called for a double foul. Perhaps fittingly. when the result was a jump ball at center court with 2.7 seconds left, the ball went to Brunson and he collided with Anunoby and couldn’t get a heave off as the clock ran out with the Knicks trailing by 20.
The Knicks closed the gap to 75-64 midway through the third quarter, but the Magic answered with seven straight points to push the lead back to 18 in little more than two minutes. The comeback efforts came over and over, but too many shots clanked off the rim and too many open shots for Orlando kept it out of reach.
The Knicks closed it to 100-91 with 6:15 left when Brunson hit a leaning shot in the lane, drawing contact but no call. As he went from official to official stating his case, Jalen Suggs, who had missed all four of his attempts beyond the arc, drained a three to push the lead back to double figures.
Finally, Brown pulled the starters with 1:54 left and the Knicks down by 15.
“I don’t think we responded properly,” Josh Hart said. “So learned lesson. We have a tough, physical opponent on Friday [Miami]. And we got to respond. Not just meeting their physicality but exceeding it.
“Obviously within the confines of the game. But doing that. Getting stops. Playing fast. Not allowing them to use that physicality and length in the halfcourt”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
