Jalen Brunson played in an NBA basketball game for the first time in four weeks on Sunday -- as you’d expect, his rhythm was a little off, his conditioning was less than 100 percent.

Those things will come back with time.

The best sign for the Knicks on Sunday? Brunson didn’t hesitate in any of his movement on the court.

“Everyone always talks about the physical part about how you’re feeling. But mentally it’s just trusting (the ankle). Trusting your movement. Trusting the way you play and not second-guessing yourself,” Brunson said. “That was an adjustment, but I’m feeling a lot better.”

Brunson logged 34 minutes on Sunday -- it was his first game since March 6, when he suffered a significant ankle sprain.

He didn’t have a hard minutes limit against Phoenix.

“With Jalen and (associate athletic trainer Anthony Goenaga), if there’s fatigue, he’ll tell us. And they’re watching him pretty closely,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Brunson said his conditioning was better than anticipated. That’s probably because he was diligent in his conditioning during rehab.

“Right now, it’s more his timing,” Thibodeau said. “He’s got to play. There’s no way around that. He practiced well the other day but the intensity of practice can never be replicated to what the game is.”

Brunson will have four more games before the postseason. If he plays in three of those games, he will be eligible for end-of-season awards.

PLAYING UNTIL THE END

The Knicks need one win -- or one Pacers loss -- to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

If and when they clinch the third seed, don’t expect them to rest in the final games of the season.

“As you head down the stretch, you want to check boxes,” Thibodeau said after Sunday's win over the Suns. “You want a winning record at home, a winning record on the road. Fifty wins is good. You want the highest seed possible. And then you want to be playing well. So you go step by step. We’re not skipping over anything. And this is the approach we’ve taken all season long. We’re not going to change now so we think this’ll help prepare us for what’s down the road.”

Is this the right approach? Or is it better to rest players after the Knicks clinch the third seed?

The answers to those questions will reveal themselves in the playoffs.

Minutes have been -- and will be -- a topic of public debate around Thibodeau until he retires. Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart rank first and second in the NBA in overall minutes played. OG Anunoby entered play Sunday ranked 11th in total minutes.

To some, this is a sign that the players should sit once the Knicks clinch the No. 3 seed. But Thibodeau doesn’t see it that way.

He wants his teams to be playing their best at the end of the regular season. It’s one of his bedrock principles. That means playing regular minutes until the end – even if the games have no bearing on the standings.

(It should be noted here that the Knicks will have at least five days between the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason. So they have a built-in rest period).

PISTONS IN FIRST ROUND?

If the season ended today, the Knicks would face the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs.

Detroit, led by Cade Cunningham, has won two games at Madison Square Garden this year. They are playing at a high level and would give the Knicks a strong test in the first round. Veteran Tobias Harris has been part of the turnaround that has seen Detroit triple its win total from last season.

Harris, a Long Island native, took a lot of heat in Philadelphia for the Sixers’ shortcomings. The Sixers last year won 57 percent of their games with Harris. This season, Philadelphia is winning at an abysmal 29 percent clip. This after an offseason in which the Sixers signed Paul George to a $211 million contract. Harris would probably take the high road if you asked him about the disparity in Detroit and Philadelphia’s 2024-25 seasons. But it has to feel good at some level for Harris after he took so much public heat in Philadelphia.

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