Struggling Knicks miss Jalen Brunson’s leadership

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It is easy to see how the Knicks miss Jalen Brunson on the court, absent his playmaking and scoring the team has looked disjointed at the offensive end. And that’s to be expected when an All-NBA scorer is gone.

But Brunson isn’t just a scorer, not just the offensive engine that made the team into one of the most potent offensive units in the NBA. And the Knicks might miss him more for his other role.

Brunson was named team captain over the summer, a role that Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has been reluctant to fill — instead relying on what he hoped would be a team of leaders. And it’s that role that the Knicks might need most as they have encountered what has been the most trying portion of their season.

It’s not hard to remember a season ago when the Knicks were an overachieving group, preaching, “Immaculate vibes,” as a strategy as sound as any offensive or defensive game plan. But step into the locker room Thursday night after the Knicks had been embarrassed for a second straight night by the lottery-bound team Hornets and let’s just say the vibes were not immaculate.

Josh Hart seemed despondent as he tried to shoulder some of that load and responsibility without Brunson on hand, but he admitted his own play was as much to blame as anyone else.

“Mental toughness. I think that’s my big concern right now,” Hart said. “We can make all the excuses in the world. There’s highs and lows in the season. No one’s 82-0, but the way we’re losing games is embarrassing. We have to find a way to right the ship. We have to come out next game with more intensity, more desperation. It starts with myself as someone who’s supposed to bring energy. I’ve been atrocious the last several weeks. So we have to get our minds prepared for the end of the season.”

“Mentally, there ain’t no excuse,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “Hell no. We come out here to play the game of basketball. At the same time it’s the end of the year. It’s about to be go time. If we can’t deal with a little schedule being a little difficult then we’re going to have much more trouble than right now.”

The Knicks have spoken these words consistently since Brunson went down with a sprained ankle March 6 in a loss to the Lakers. But the words have rung hollow as they have lost four of seven games without Brunson and six of nine since dropping a home game to Golden State ahead of the long road trip that is threatening to break their season.

The scoring has been hard to come by as Towns has carried much of the load with little help. But it is the other parts of the game that Thibodeau preaches — defense, rebounding, avoiding turnovers — that have also fallen off, particularly in the last two games when the Knicks seemed to slump shoulders, get out-hustled by teams chasing a lottery pick and fall apart as a team. If Brunson is in the room does Mikal Bridges voice his words about minutes? Is there a response when Draymond Green tries to attack Towns? Do Hart and Thibodeau scream at each other on national television?

“Yeah, we’ve have a terrible two, two and a half weeks of travel,” Hart said. “You know, all teams go through terrible travel periods during the season. And it’s not an excuse. If we’re right mentally we win some of these games, but we’re not doing what it takes. We’re not doing the extra effort. We’re not giving energy. We’re not giving the right output. We’re crying to refs. We’ve got to pick it up.”

Thibodeau tried to put a positive spin on it, noting, “We didn’t shoot well, but we had 26 assists. And it was low turnover. But I think that sometimes when you’re missing those type of shots, it tends to – you can’t allow that to take away from your intensity or your concentration. The frustration, you have to eliminate.”

That rings as hollow as the panic though. Maybe being on the road and Brunson rehabilitating in New York has been the issue and having their captain back in the room — even if he’s still weeks away from returning to the court — solves some of the frustration.