The New York Knicks 2024 post-season run ended in a 130-109 Game 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and the Knicks’ odds were hampered by a third-quarter injury to their star guard Jalen Brunson — so, what happened to him?
Late in the third quarter, Brunson swiped down on Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton’s leg and left the game for just a few minutes. When he returned from the Madison Square Garden locker room it seemed like he might be okay, but Brunson was back for only a matter of seconds before he had to leave again, and he remained out for the remainder of the competition.
Brunson later told the press he thought he jammed his hand, but when he looked down after returning to the game, he knew something was wrong, according to ESPN. After leaving the court for the second time, Brunson never returned, and the Knicks sorely lacked his presence. Already plagued with other injuries, Brunson averaged 33.7 points, 7.3 assists, and 3.6 rebounds in the playoffs.
Jalen Brunson fractured his left hand
Jalen Brunson’s left-hand injury was more than a “jam,” as he said he suspected on the court: it was fractured. Brunson’s injury only added to a depleted Knicks roster, with Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, and Bojan Bogdanovic already sidelined. According to CBS News, Brunson would have likely been on the bench for at least one series if not the remainder of the postseason even if the Knicks beat the Pacers and advanced to the NBA finals to face the Boston Celtics.
“I’m proud of what we were able to do this year and the way we fought. Obviously, the outcome is not what we wanted,” Brunson told the press. He added,
I would say there’s pros and cons to how I played. The pros, obviously, are I played well individually at some points in the playoffs. The cons are that I didn’t play well enough to help my team move forward. You can say I got hurt in Game 7, I wasn’t playing well in Game 7. We had a 2-0 and a 3-2 lead, it’s just hard to look at things individually when you don’t help your team.”
via ESPN
Brunson also felt like the Knicks made positive strides in the 2024 season. “We just need to make more,” he said. If the Knicks closed out Game 7, the team would be in the finals for the first time since 2000. There’s no word yet on how Brunson’s injury might affect his return in the 2025 NBA season.