{"id":651758,"date":"2026-03-10T23:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651758\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:47:17","slug":"knicks-bench-problem-is-dragging-down-jalen-brunson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651758\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks’ bench problem is dragging down Jalen Brunson"},"content":{"rendered":"

SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Leon Rose tried to address the bench in the summer. It didn\u2019t work. He got a redo at the trade deadline with Jose Alvarado and Jeremy Sochan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet \u2026 the search for answers continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest development is a four-game slump and depletion of minutes for Alvarado, the newly acquired point guard<\/a> who didn\u2019t score a point in back-to-back losses to the Clippers and Lakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike Brown, as a result, dusted off Tyler Kolek on Monday against the Clippers, hoping for an offensive spark before the coach quickly turned back to ol\u2019 reliable Jalen Brunson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was inconsequential toward the result \u2014 Kolek couldn\u2019t make an impact with such a limited opportunity, less than two minutes \u2014 but underscored concerns about Alvarado, who hasn\u2019t made a 3-pointer in the past five games (0-for-10).\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s loss to the Lakers \u2014 with the offense in shambles \u2014 Brown only played Alvarado one minute in the second half, riding instead with Jordan Clarkson<\/a> and a heavier dose of Brunson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Jose was struggling a little bit. So I threw Tyler out there to see if we could get something from him, similar to me throwing Jordan Clarkson out there,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Of course, it wasn\u2019t supposed to look this way. Alvarado was acquired at the trade deadline to absorb the backup point guard spot with defense, quickness and ballhandling \u2014 the areas lacking from Kolek. Alvarado started exquisitely the first 10 games, but lately Brunson\u2019s burden has increased, not decreased.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewKnicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) controls the ball as center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) provides coverage against the Los Angeles Clippers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

The All-Star averaged 37.8 minutes the past five games, the most in the NBA during that stretch. Perhaps not coincidentally, Brunson\u2019s shot was off \u2014 he connected on just 40 percent of his attempts the past five games, while hitting just 33 percent on treys \u2014 which tends to happen on tired legs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kolek, meanwhile, had been cast aside after the acquisition of Alvarado but had built a decent highlight reel from early this season, specifically in December with a strong NBA Cup and Christmas game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you have games like that you can kind of look at that as a positive and just build on those things. You don\u2019t want those things to be the be-all, end-all,\u201d Kolek told The Post on Monday. \u201cMy career is about growth and getting better. So I need to learn from those experiences and learn from every one \u2014 good or bad. Those were good experiences. But me, personally, I\u2019ve had some bad experiences on the floor. From my play. So learn from both of those things and just continue to grow, continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoseJose Alvarado #5 of the New York Knicks controls the ball against Jarred Vanderbilt #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers. Getty Images<\/p>\n

So what did he learn? Basically, listen to the coaches<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you\u2019re out there you get in the flow of the game, and as a backup point guard or another guard on the team, when Jalen comes out you have to be really direct and accurate with how you\u2019re playing and how coaches want you to play out there on the floor,\u201d Kolek said. \u201cSo just following our game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The larger context to the bench fluctuation includes the injury to Miles McBride, who would be the first guard off the bench but is out after undergoing a hernia surgery. McBride is traveling with the team and said he doesn\u2019t know when he\u2019ll return to the court, whether it\u2019s in the playoffs or before.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the underwhelming play of Mikal Bridges, who could theoretically soak up some of the playmaking duties but has mostly been a transition bandit this season with decreasing efficiency on his jumpers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And lastly, the Knicks get a reprieve in the schedule upcoming \u2014 with six of the next seven contests against bottom feeders, including five games against egregious tankers \u2014 and nothing cures confidence problems better than blowout victories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t wipe away one of the issues facing the Knicks:\u00a0<\/p>\n

In their search for a consistent rotation for the bench, they\u2019ve only found more questions and lately a heavier reliance on Brunson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALT LAKE CITY \u2014 Leon Rose tried to address the bench in the summer. It didn\u2019t work. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,288,11053,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,191,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-651758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-jalen-brunson","11":"tag-jose-alvarado","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-clippers","14":"tag-laclippers","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangelesclippers","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-new-york-knicks","21":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116207552524263753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}