ATLANTA — Starting guard Quentin Grimes left the Knicks’ matchup against the Hawks on Wednesday with an apparent hand injury.
“Just a bruised left hand,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said postgame. Asked if Grimes has gotten X-rays, Thibodeau said: “I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to the trainers yet.”
Grimes swiped down on Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic on a drive to the rim in the fourth quarter and walked well into the out of bounds stripe past the stanchion, grimacing in pain while holding his hand.
He checked himself out of the game and walked directly to the locker room. Knicks trainers followed shortly after.
The injury comes at an inopportune time for both the Knicks — who missed RJ Barrett (migraine) for the second straight game on Wednesday — and Grimes, who had been on a heater from downtown prior to his injury.
Grimes could miss some time depending on the severity of the injury.
“It’s very tough and that’s unfortunate, but we have a next man up mentality,” said Jalen Brunson. “Guys step up but as a team we had to step up together. We have a lot of great players on this team that can do a lot of great things. Obviously we want Quentin to come back when he’s healthy, when he’s ready, whatever goes on, but I think for us we all know what we have to do.”
Grimes exited the Hawks game with 11 points on 3-o-f7 shooting from downtown. He is shooting 40.3 percent from downtown on the season.
NOTHING PERSONAL
There’s no bad blood between Julius Randle and Trae Young after a brief altercation in Wednesday’s matchup.
Randle stole the ball from Young to end the third quarter and the two got into each others’ faces. Backup big man Isaiah Hartenstein played peacemaker, shoving Young towards his bench.
“I stole the ball, he got frustrated,” Randle explained. “That’s my guy though. I ain’t got nothing bad to say.”
HEATING UP WHEN IT MATTERS MOST
Brunson scored 24 points, including eight in the game’s final four minutes. He hit a pull-up three that gave the Knicks a 108-107 lead, then hit a mid-range three that put the Knicks up, 114-111, with 19 seconds left in regulation.
“Teammates have confidence in me, the coaches have confidence in me, and I made plays at the right time,” he said after the game. “Quarters 2 and 3, I didn’t really do much and just wasn’t being myself. And then everyone had each other’s backs and talked me up and I was just ready to help close out the game, and we did a really good job of staying poised and finishing it.”