Tom Thibodeau must give tired Knicks rest down the stretch

Tom Thibodeau must give tired Knicks rest down the stretch

While these losses were obviously concerning because of the way they occurred. New York is comfortably sitting in the third seed barring disaster, and they wouldn’t mind slipping to fourth if it happens. Every team goes through brutal stretches in the 82-game regular season. Heck, even the Cavaliers were hurtling toward a 70-win campaign before dropping three in a row against the Magic, Clippers and Kings, who are hardly world-beaters.

It’s simply too difficult to maintain focus for six months, especially for a top-heavy team like the Knicks. It becomes even harder when your best player and primary ball-handler is out of the lineup. Since Jalen Brunson was injured two weeks ago, everyone on the team has had to do more. This has led to some players taking advantage of increased opportunity, as well as new findings for a strategy that Tom Thibodeau can use. Unfortunately, the flip side is taking some tough losses, but there’s no reason for panic.

There is no reason for playing starters heavy minutes

The real takeaway from the two defeats is that Thibodeau needs to shelve his pride and lessen the burden he’s placing on his starters. His team is so clearly exhausted from the heavy minutes they’ve played all season, but Thibs can reverse the damage by lightening up for the final month. NY has no seeding implications at stake and has free reign to reach the playoffs as rested as possible. Their captain should be fresh as can be for the postseason, which is a silver lining of his injury (assuming he returns healthy). The rest of their important players should be afforded that same luxury with nothing to play for.

When a player like Josh Hart is referencing the team’s fatigue, the head coach must take notice. He’s one of the toughest players in the league who plays hard every night and rarely misses a game. Hart ranks first in the NBA in minutes per game.

In Thursday night’s loss to Charlotte, Mikal Bridges played 33 minutes. Hart played 39, Miles McBride and Karl-Anthony Towns 36, and OG Anunoby 38. The bench played just 58 minutes and combined for 11 points. Yes, the second unit has played poorly of late. Thibodeau will cite that reason for why he’s leaned on his starters, but the team’s mailing it in regardless. However, there is simply no reason not to give Cameron Payne, Landry Shamet, Tyler Kolek and Pacome Dadiet more run when the squad is going to lose anyway. Again, the results of these games don’t mean anything to the Knicks’ playoff hopes.

New York only wants to reach playoffs healthy

All that’s left for season objectives is to reach the postseason healthy and rested. They should still suit up the full team for the big games to test out strategies and lineups, but with Brunson out, even that angle is somewhat moot. The Knicks play Saturday at home against Washington and Tuesday against Dallas. Multiple starters should be sitting out those games, and no important player should play more than 32-ish minutes. There’s no upside to it and only downside.