At their core, the minutes numbers stand out.
Mikal Bridges has logged essentially the most within the NBA this season. Josh Hart sits in second. OG Anunoby is third.
Even Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Cities ranked seventh and sixteenth, respectively, getting into Thursday’s video games.
However within the eyes of Cities and Hart, that doesn’t imply Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau must be criticized for one in every of his most notable — or notorious, relying on the angle — philosophies.
His utilization technique has sparked annual debates. However after the Knicks’ win Wednesday, Thibodeau acquired loads of assist from his gamers whilst their minutes continued to climb.
“I really feel like y’all give him flak on a regular basis,” Cities mentioned when requested if Thibodeau confronted related criticism when he coached the Timberwolves. “Irrespective of the place he at. However … he retains getting a job, and it implies that everybody retains respecting and realizing what he can do for a staff. And he’s executed it in Chicago. He did it with Boston. He did it with us in Minny. And he’s doing it right here, even earlier than I acquired right here.
“So say what you need about Thibs, however he will get the job executed.”
The entire Knicks’ starters aside from Brunson have seen a bump in minutes — Brunson averages 35.0, marginally down from 35.4 in 2023-24 — from both final 12 months below Thibodeau or with their earlier groups.
Bridges’ common skyrocketed from 34.8 with the Nets final 12 months to 39.1 with the Knicks. Anunoby’s quantity jumped from 34.0 to 36.5.
Even Cities, to a level, has been on the court docket extra, with the star middle — who performed for Thibodeau earlier in his profession — averaging 34.6 minutes per recreation in his first marketing campaign with the Knicks after logging 32.7 per contest final 12 months.
If that trajectory holds throughout the second half of the season, it’d mark Cities’ most in a recreation since his second 12 months with Thibodeau as his Timberwolves coach in 2017-18 (35.6).
The Knicks have already got encountered damage scares, with Cities — listed as questionable for his or her Thunder rematch Friday — lacking a recreation with knee soreness and Anunoby taking a tough fall in opposition to Oklahoma Metropolis and even Hart exiting briefly Wednesday earlier than returning.
However they’ve prevented prolonged absences up to now, with their starters lacking only a mixed 5 video games.
Bridges and Anunoby have began all 38.
“We had a pair unhealthy video games, a pair losses in a row and all y’all cry about minutes and being the minute police and all that,” Hart mentioned Wednesday. “That’s all outdoors noise. We’re gonna play the sport how we’re speculated to play it. We’re gonna play as laborious as we will after we’re on the market.”
A part of Thibodeau’s utilization stems from the Knicks’ lack of trusted depth.
An injured Mitchell Robinson nonetheless hasn’t recovered. Landry Shamet simply returned after dislocating his shoulder within the preseason, getting waived after which signing one other cope with the Knicks in December.
Miles McBride, the Knicks’ prime guard off the bench, has missed 5 consecutive video games with a hamstring damage and is questionable for Friday.
Valuable Achiuwa and Cameron Payne have averaged 18.8 and 15.3 minutes, respectively, per recreation off the bench, whereas Jericho Sims’ cameos have been fleeting.
Thibodeau needs to depend on his starters. That, possible, won’t ever change. “We’re gonna be on the market,” Hart mentioned — whatever the criticism that follows.