THE Knicks are well established in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference, with 25 victories for 13 defeats, but it only took a series of three defeats to show how much the team depended on its five majors.
Unsurprisingly when we look at the playing times of Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart or even OG AnunobyNew York is the team that has used its starters the most since the start of the season (1,378 minutes in 38 games) and therefore logically uses its substitutes the least (451 minutes).
Back for the Knicks against the Raptors, Karl-Anthony Towns insisted on defending his coach in the face of criticism that falls (again) on him for his way of using his players.
“Say what you want about Thibs, he gets the job done”
“I feel like you blame him all the time.” he replied to the press. “It doesn’t matter where he is. But you keep talking about him and that means he keeps getting a job and everyone respects him and knows what he can do for a team. He did it in Chicago, he did it in Boston, he did it with us in Minny. And he does it here. Even before I arrived. So say what you want about Thibs, he gets the job done.”
Certainly, the Knicks are in a pretty good place. The problem, and this is the concern of fans, is that this overuse of starters increases the risks ahead of the playoffs. Will the “Big Apple” franchise still be on its knees in the postseason? While the slightest injury in the five can derail everything?
With the arrivals of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges during the offseason, the Knicks have strengthened their major five… but also weakened their bench. It's a double-edged choice, especially with Tom Thibodeau in charge, the coach only really having confidence in his basic men.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 35 | 34.6 | 55.2 | 45.0 | 83.3 | 3.0 | 11.0 | 14.0 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 25.3 |
| Jalen Brunson | 37 | 35.0 | 47.7 | 38.6 | 81.9 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 7.6 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 25.0 |
| Mikal Bridges | 38 | 39.1 | 49.7 | 34.2 | 70.5 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 18.4 |
| Og Anunoby | 38 | 36.5 | 47.8 | 35.7 | 79.6 | 1.2 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 16.6 |
| Josh Hart | 37 | 37.7 | 56.6 | 37.3 | 80.8 | 2.0 | 7.1 | 9.1 | 5.6 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 14.4 |
| Miles McBride | 28 | 24.5 | 42.5 | 40.2 | 80.0 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 9.8 |
| Cameron Payne | 32 | 15.3 | 42.1 | 40.5 | 83.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 6.7 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 17 | 18.8 | 52.6 | 35.7 | 52.4 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 5.6 |
| Landry Shamet | 9 | 12.5 | 46.7 | 23.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 3.4 |
| Tyler Kolek | 22 | 6.0 | 40.5 | 40.0 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| Ariel Hukporti | 12 | 8.2 | 64.3 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 1.8 |
| Jericho Sims | 32 | 11.6 | 63.2 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 3.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 |
| Pacome Dadiet | 12 | 6.8 | 30.0 | 35.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.6 |
| Matt Ryan | 12 | 4.2 | 28.6 | 21.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 |
| Jacob Toppin | 11 | 2.6 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
