It sounds like the Knicks will be getting an important piece back for their Clippers showdown.
RJ Barrett, who missed the last two games with knee soreness, practiced Sunday and coach Tom Thibodeau “would assume” his starting wing plays barring a setback.
“It was just some soreness that cropped up,” Thibodeau said. “He said he’s feeling a lot better.”
The Knicks certainly missed Barrett while dropping two in a row with ugly offensive performances.
They went a combined 70-for-188 (37 percent) against the Cavs and Bucks, with Julius Randle’s shot colder than a mother-in-law’s love.
Until his injury, Barrett was New York’s top performer while averaging 21 points on 45.3 percent shooting.
“He’s been great, had a great start to the season,” Jalen Brunson said. “He adds everything. He does it on both sides of the ball, and he has that mentality that he goes out there every night no matter what’s happening, he’s trying to win. So he’s a key for us.”
A lot has been made of Randle’s poor shooting and two poor possessions down the stretch of Friday’s loss in Milwaukee.
But Brunson, who was otherwise spectacular with 45 points, missed arguably the biggest shot of the night off a drive against Damian Lillard.
It would’ve given the Knicks a lead with 49 seconds remaining, but Brunson’s midrange fadeaway fell well short.
“Terrible,” Brunson said Sunday.
Why?
“I thought I got fouled and then I tried to sell it,” Brunson said. “Just a B.S. shot.”
The Bucks got the rebound and Lillard converted an and-one, representing a huge momentum swing.
A day later, the NBA determined Brook Lopez set an illegal screen to set up Lillard’s bucket, but the official swallowed his whistle.
“I think for us, everyone worries about the last play or the last two minutes and stuff like that, but we were in a 14-point hole for most of the game,” Brunson said. “So if we don’t have that and we’re fighting with them throughout the entire game, and then we have that run at the end of the game like the way we did, then it would be a different game.
“So I mean, we can look at the last two minutes, we can look at the first two minutes. We were down 9-2. So that’s on them. We’ve gotta control what we can control.”
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