Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson has been out since early March with an ankle injury, but the two-time All-Star and team captain is working his way back.
"I'm doing rehab stuff," he said before Sunday's 110-93 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. "More days, as of recently, have been just cranking it up -- two-a-days, if I have to. But whatever I can do to improve myself, it's what I'm doing."
Brunson said that he is "feeling better" and "progressing every day" while cleared for basketball activities.
"Realistically, I'm hoping to play before the playoffs," he said. "I think that's as good for me to get some game reps before we got into that type of stretch run. But most importantly, I want to make sure I'm 100 percent healthy."
Starting with Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. tipoff against the Philadelphia 76ers, New York has eight regular season games left.
"That's probably a conversation to where we can have with the medical team," Brunson said when asked if the plan was to wait for him to feel fully healthy. "Obviously, I want to feel 100 percent. But a lot of this is also mental, just making sure I can trust everything I do. It's just a conversation for us to have."
Since Brunson's injury on March 6 in the Knicks' 113-109 overtime loss at the Los Angeles Lakers, New York has gone 7-5.
"They've responded," Brunson said. "And there were nights where, obviously, we don't play well as a team but then the next day they respond. But that's all we can focus on.
"And there will be times and games and days where things won't go our way, but it's how do we respond from those moments and how do we get better, and I feel like they've progressed that way and I can't wait to join 'em."