Do Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks have a minutes problem?

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After winning nine games in a row and capping a strong 12-2 December, the Knicks fell in back-to-back games in which they looked outmatched without their starting unit in and gassed down the stretch.

That alone shouldn’t alarm fans, but combined with all the high-minute games their key players are accumulating and the context of Tom Thibodeau’s previous teams succumbing to injury, there’s an early anxiety building over the workload placed on this starting lineup.

Thibodeau has forever valued the win in front of him above all, and given questionable depth throughout his career, has found the most success leaning on shorter rotations. This year’s roster has been especially thin, which has resulted in even more responsibility on their top-end talent.

Of the NBA’s top players in minutes played this season, New York’s Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby take spots one through three. Jalen Brunson is seventh and Karl-Anthony Towns is 12th, while no other team has more than four players in the top 50.

Their starting lineup featuring those five has played 610 minutes this season, nearly 200 more than any other lineup in the league. On top of minutes played, Bridges leads the NBA in miles traveled, and three of the Knicks’ starters join in the top-six of that measure.

There is some skew in these metrics, as the Knicks have actually had great injury luck to start the year, with their starters missing little time. There’s also a major long-term benefit in them playing together in such high volume, as they were able to gel and find prolonged success relatively quickly for a team that underwent massive turnover this offseason.

Still, an extreme amount of minutes played can increase the risk for injuries, and we’ve already seen some bumps and bruises develop among the starters. Not only are they in danger of missing time, but the time spent on the court can be far less effective due to fatigue.

Even Towns himself admitted to being “exhausted” down the stretch of the Knicks’ recent loss to the Thunder. Quantitatively there appears to be some truth to this as well, as the starters have a positive net rating in…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/tom-thibodeaus-knicks-minutes-problem-171822414.html

Author : SNY

Publish date : 2025-01-06 17:18:00

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