It was the harm the Knicks could not afford, proper on the time they could not afford it.

They had been trailing the Indiana Pacers by double digits in Recreation 7 of the Jap Convention semifinals. Accidents had already piled up all through the playoffs.

However then Jalen Brunson went again to the locker room briefly. He returned to the sport, however after a pair minutes once more went again to the locker room.

“I believed I simply jammed it, to be trustworthy with you,” Brunson mentioned after the sport. “I regarded down and knew one thing was unsuitable.”

He by no means returned to the bench. The Knicks later introduced he was out with a fractured left hand.

With out Brunson, the Knicks finally misplaced 130-109 to the Pacers, ending their season whereas Indiana superior to the convention finals to play the Boston Celtics.

“Within the third quarter,” Brunson mentioned, “I simply swiped the ball and Tyrese (Haliburton) hit it along with his leg.”

Brunson had 17 factors on 6-of-17 taking pictures (1-of-3 from deep) with 9 assists when he left the sport.

The Knicks already had been with out Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle and Bojan Bogdanovic. Josh Hart is coping with belly soreness, whereas OG Anunoby began Sunday after lacking the final 4 video games with a hamstring harm, however solely performed 5 minutes and by no means within the second half.

Total within the playoffs, Brunson was unbelievable. He had 5 video games with a minimum of 40 factors. At instances, he carried the staff.

But when all was mentioned and carried out, he wasn’t glad.

“I might say there’s professionals and cons in how I performed,” Brunson mentioned. “The professionals are I performed nicely individually at some factors and time through the playoffs. The cons are I didn’t play nicely sufficient to assist my staff transfer ahead. You’ll be able to say I obtained harm in recreation seven. I wasn’t taking part in nicely in recreation seven. We had a 2-0 and a 3-2 lead. So, it’s laborious to take a look at issues individually if you don’t assist your staff.”

His coach, although, praised his star participant.

“It’s a testomony to who he’s as a result of if you have a look at his season final 12 months, it was exceptional,” Tom Thibodeau mentioned. “His playoff run final 12 months was exceptional, and to take the step this 12 months that he’s taken, it says so much about who he’s. He’s by no means glad. He all the time needs to do higher and that’s what I like about him. I like his mentality and I believe it permeates the staff. If you see somebody with that strategy and the truth that he cares a lot about his teammates, he’s an important chief.”