Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
CHARLOTTE \u2014 Two weeks removed from turning his ankle at a nasty angle, Jalen Brunson is out of the walking boot and \u201cdoing light shooting,\u201d according to Tom Thibodeau.<\/p>\n
The Knicks coach added that \u201chopefully\u201d Brunson will return to establish a rhythm before the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever he\u2019s ready, he\u2019s ready. He\u2019s putting a lot into his rehab, so right now, that\u2019s where we want his focus to be,\u201d Thibodeau said. \u201cAnd then hopefully, he\u2019ll get into some games where he works his way back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks have just 13 games remaining in the regular season following a 115-98 loss Thursday in Charlotte. <\/p>\n
Notably, Brunson needs four more appearances to qualify for postseason awards. <\/p>\n
Two of them have to be at least 20 minutes, and the other two have to be at least 15 minutes. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s a strong candidate for two of them \u2014 All-NBA and Clutch Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
With two sets of back-to-backs in the final six games \u2014 and a priority to keep Brunson healthy \u2014 it might be difficult to squeeze that in at the end of the season. <\/p>\n
But clearly, the goal is to get the point guard real-game reps before the first round starts April 19.<\/p>\n
Brunson was injured March 6 in overtime against the Lakers, when he landed on Austin Reaves, nailed a free throw and hobbled off the Crypto.com Arena floor. <\/p>\n
The Knicks are 3-4 without their top scorer.<\/p>\n
Their offense had been struggling, while the defense experienced an uptick with Miles McBride as the replacement.<\/p>\n
The Knicks also are in the doldrums of their schedule, the annual March crunch of road games \u2014 thank you, Big East Tournament \u2014 that feel less consequential this year with Brunson unavailable and the team somewhat comfortable in the third seed.<\/p>\n
But after the Knicks looked worn out in Wednesday\u2019s loss to the Spurs, McBride pushed back hard at the notion that off nights are acceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I think these are some more important days,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, I feel like if you\u2019ve played in the playoffs before, I feel like these are the times where guys are really trying to tune up even more, and these games become even more important, whether you\u2019re looking at trying to get in the playoffs or get a better seeding. So I feel like these are games where trying to tune up and get ready, and I feel we didn\u2019t show that [against the Spurs].\u201d<\/p>\n
On a personal level for McBride, it\u2019s easy to see why these games are so significant. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s again seeing big minutes as a starter, just like last season, when surgeries shelved OG Anunoby and Julius Randle.<\/p>\n
McBride went from averaging 23.7 minutes before Brunson\u2019s injury to 33.5 in the six games immediately afterward.<\/p>\n
His contributions on defense have been predictably positive, given his skill set. <\/p>\n
But the Spurs defeat was a dud on both sides of the ball overall for the Knicks, who were torched by the little-known Sandro Mamukelashvili.<\/p>\n
McBride said missed shots carried over to defense for the Knicks, who Thursday played on the road for the 11th time in the past 14 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur approach, I felt like when shots weren\u2019t going in, we\u2019re kind of a shell of ourselves,\u201d McBride said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t do the little things. Sometimes in games that\u2019s going to happen, especially when it gets to tight games, playoff games. You might miss a shot, but if you don\u2019t get back in transition, you let them capitalize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brunson also wasn\u2019t around to lift the offense in the fourth quarter. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s been his greatest trait this season \u2014 flashing his clutch gene. <\/p>\n
And now that he\u2019s back shooting on the sprained ankle, there\u2019s hope he\u2019ll be re-integrated to gear up for the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteady progress,\u201d Thibodeau called it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic CHARLOTTE \u2014 Two weeks removed from turning his ankle at a nasty angle, Jalen Brunson is out of the walking boot and \u201cdoing light shooting,\u201d according to Tom Thibodeau. The Knicks coach added that \u201chopefully\u201d Brunson will return to establish a rhythm before the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":248505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-248504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248506,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248504\/revisions\/248506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}