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New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson doesn’t think injuries were the reason the Knicks lost in seven games to the Indiana Pacers.
“The one thing I hated the most, even though like we were playing well, we were winning, we were up 2-0, then up 3-2—Whenever we lost, everyone was like ‘Oh, it’s they’re tired or their injuries,'” Brunson said on Friday’s episode of the Roommates Show with teammate Josh Hart (18 minute mark.) “Honestly, that kind of pissed me off.
“Because, I mean, yeah, we don’t have a full team, but like, I don’t want the narrative being ‘Oh, they’re hurt so let’s give them a pass.’ Like, no. We had chances to win that series and didn’t. We had a chance to go up 3-0 and we didn’t.”
Brunson continued: “I just hate the fact that sometimes people give us the fact that we were injured or injuries happen. Like yeah, they’re a part of the game but that’s not the reason we lost. We had chances to win. We were winning with those injuries. I just hate the narrative. I hate the narrative.”
Hart, OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson all suffered injuries during the playoffs, while All-Star Julius Randle was already sidelined before the postseason.
Those injuries didn’t stop the Knicks from beating the Pacers twice in order to open the conference semifinals with a 2-0 series lead.
The score was then tied in Game 3 with 42 seconds remaining on the clock before the Pacers pulled ahead late.
Hart agreed with Brunson that, in that moment, the shorthanded Knicks were within reach of gaining a three-game series lead.
“We were one… Andrew Nembhard tough end-of-shot-clock three away from being up 3-0,” Hart said.
The Knicks had another chance to control the series when they pulled into a 3-2 series lead after Game 5.
But New York was unable to take advantage as the team struggled through back-to-back losses as the Pacers dominated on both ends of the court in Games 6 and 7.
Hart and Brunson were both held back by injuries of their own during those decisive losses, but they weren’t interested in blaming the loss on physical limitations.
“We had a chance to win despite our injuries,” Brunson said.
Injury narratives are still likely to follow Brunson and the Knicks into next season, especially given the injury histories of players like OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson.
Brunson and Hart will have to hope they can lead the team on a deeper postseason run next spring in order to assuage those doubts.
The Knicks, meanwhile, will have to decide whether they were able to get enough of a look at this shorthanded roster to decide how much to retool this offseason. New York could decide to move Bogdanovic’s expiring contract if they are looking to change things up this offseason.
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