Knicks’ Josh Hart: ‘Warrior’ Jalen Brunson will play through injury if he can
Josh Hart #JoshHart
Josh Hart knows Jalen Brunson as well as any player on the Knicks, and he believes his former Villanova teammate will do whatever he can to be in the lineup Tuesday night against the Heat.
Brunson was added to the injury report as questionable for Game 2 with a sore right ankle, joining All-Star forward Julius Randle, who sat out the Knicks’ series-opening loss on Sunday with a sprained left ankle.
“Hey man, if Jalen can, Jalen’s going to [play],” Hart said Tuesday morning at the team’s practice facility in Tarrytown. “I talked to him a little bit [Monday]. I haven’t talked to him today much, but he’s someone who is a warrior. He battles through injuries all the time. He just has to make sure he’s able to be out there perfect.
“If not, he has to trust us to go out there and do what needs to be done. As a competitor, that’s the hardest part. There’s always times where he can go out there for us and score 30 for us, but if his matchup scores 35 we lose. That’s the toughest part of being a fierce competitor, of knowing when to go out there and battle through something and when you just can’t do it. And that goes for everybody.”
Brunson had said following the Game 1 defeat that “this one’s on me,” while describing his play as “horrific.”
He finished with 25 points on 11-for-23 shooting overall, but he missed all seven of his 3-point attempts and committed five of the Knicks’ 13 turnovers.
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Randle reinjured the ankle that sidelined him for the final five games of the regular season in Game 5 of the first round against the Cavaliers.
Heat star Jimmy Butler also has been listed as questionable with a sprained right ankle suffered late in Game 1.
Regardless of who’s in or out for each team, Hart expects another raucous atmosphere at the Garden.
“We know MSG, we need them rocking tonight, as always, as they’ve been doing the whole year since I’ve been here,” Hart said. “We get to wake up and play basketball. You can’t get excited for that and play against a team like the Heat, I mean, I’m not sure what gets you excited.”