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Tim Bontemps, ESPN
NEW YORK – Knicks star Jalen Brunson was ruled out for the rest of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers with a fractured left hand.
Brunson had 17 points and 9 assists in 29 minutes Sunday before checking out of the game twice in the span of 64 seconds — first, with 4:02 remaining in the third quarter; then after checking back in at the 3:16 mark of the third, checking back out again for good with 3:02 to go in the quarter, and heading back to New York’s locker room.
After not coming back out to the bench, the Knicks then ruled Brunson out for the remainder of the game between the third and fourth quarters.
Brunson’s injury is just the latest in a litany of them for New York over the past few weeks. The team’s other All-Star, Julius Randle, never came back this season from suffering a shoulder injury on a charge in a game here at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 27 against the Miami Heat.
Mitchell Robinson, the team’s starting center, missed most of the season with foot and ankle injuries, and was ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing a procedure on his left ankle after Game 1 of this series. The other member of New York’s starting frontcourt, OG Anunoby, came back in Game 7 after missing Games 3 through 6 of this series with a hamstring injury, but couldn’t run and played less than five minutes before sitting out for the rest of the game.
The team’s biggest trade deadline acquisition, Bojan Bogdanovic, was also lost for the season after undergoing surgery for his own left foot injury after Philadelphia 76ers forward Nicolas Batum fell on it in Game 4 of New York’s first round series against Philadelphia.
Josh Hart, meanwhile, was questionable to play in Game 7 with his own abdominal issue.
Brunson, though, has been one of the biggest stars in the playoffs, entering Sunday’s action averaging a league-best 33.7 points across 12 games in these playoffs for the Knicks, and becoming a cult hero in The Big Apple in the process.