Getty Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks on the bench during the game against the Dallas Mavericks.
After dropping a hard-fought game on the road against the Miami Heat, the New York Knicks are gearing up to square off against the Orlando Magic on the second night of a back-to-back.
While outings on consecutive nights are generally tough for any team to endure, Tom Thibodeau‘s club may be met with a few more challenges to overcome during the outing as they could find themselves without two key starters.
According to SNY’s Ian Begley, Jalen Brunson (sprained right hand) and Mitchell Robinson (contused right knee) are listed as questionable for the Knicks heading into Thursday night’s affair.
Knicks say Jalen Brunson (sprained right hand) is questionable for game at Orlando.
Knicks say Mitchell Robinson (contused right knee) is questionable for game tonight at ORL.
Should Brunson sit out against the Magic, this would serve as the sixth time over their last 10 games that he has been relegated to the sidelines. For Robinson, it would be his 23 missed game of the year.
Josh Hart Calls Out Refs Following Knicks Loss
The New York Knicks fell to the Miami Heat Wednesday night by a final score of 127-120.
However, the club’s demise was ladened with controversy, as many have pointed to poor officiating as having played a sizeable role in the ultimate outcome on the night.
The refs destroying the Knicks tonight, a short film.
Fans of the franchise weren’t the only ones to have called out the referees for their blunders on the night, as even Knicks guard Josh Hart took to social media to discuss a devastating missed call that, ultimately, led to a foul being charged to New York.
“In a two possession game under a minute…,” Hart wrote in a quote tweet showing Heat star Jimmy Butler lifting his pivot foot when being trapped by him and RJ Barret.
This public shaming of the league’s officiating marks yet another instance where a player has voiced their frustrations on the matter this season.
Hart would finish the night with an impressive all-around stat line of 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block while shooting 60.0% from the floor and 66.7% from deep.
Knicks Could Trade For 2 Star-Level Players
Wednesday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst caught the attention of Knicks nation, as he stated during an episode of the Hoops Collective podcast that he believes Leon Rose and company could execute multiple blockbuster trades in the near future “if they needed to,” all while holding onto the likes of Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle along the way.
“In my view, they could trade for two star-level players…They can hold Jalen Brunson, they can hold Julius Randle and they could make two giant trades. Now, whether they can hold Brunson, Randle, and [RJ] Barrett and make two giant trades, that would depend on the players, but there is even a window that they can hold all three of those and make two giant trades,” Windhorst said.
“They can hold Jalen Brunson, they can hold Julius Randle & they can make 2 giant trades… I kinda compare it to Cavs in 2014…Cavs had stuff & space…used the space on LeBron & the stuff on Kevin Love…Executing’s the hard part”
—Windhorst on Knicks
Full:t.co/lVcBWLWcIA
Windhorst would continue by stating that he’s unsure whether it would have to take “a player to say ‘send me to New York,’ and potentially another star player to say ‘oh, I’ll go to New York too’” or “for New York to pull off a big trade and then a star player going ‘oh man, they got this and they still got this? I want to do that,’” but suggests that New York could take part in some monstrous dealings on the trade market if they wish to do so.