Knicks’ Massive Minutes Coming Back to Bite Them

New York Knicks basketball has taken on an unpredictable aura in its recent iterations but the Orlando Magic claimed to have cracked the code.

It may not have taken too much detective work on the Magic’s part, as Central Floridians told Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News that the game plan for a Monday visit to Madison Square Garden partly revolved around exposing one of the most common criticisms of New York basketball, namely of the iterations led by head coach Tom Thibodeau.

“We kind of already know Thibs is one of them coaches that plays his players until the buzzer ends,” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said in Winfield’s report. “We kind of know that from previous coaching, other teams, stuff like that … We’re one of the most well-conditioned teams in the league. We thrive on that. This was a back-to-back for us, and no one looked tired.”

To Caldwell-Pope’s point, the Magic carried a narrow two-point lead into halftime but outscored the Knicks by seven over the latter 24 en route to a 103-94 victory. It was a sour start to lengthy homestand for the Knicks, who have dropped three consecutive games for the first time this season.

Commentary around Thibodeau’s propensity to heavily lean upon his starters is nothing new. Touted rookies and veterans alike have fallen victim to Thibodeau’s propensity to stick with nine-man sets that stick to the same casts. The talk this time has been deafening as the Knicks (24-13) approach the midway point of what’s been viewed their most legitimate championship-worthy season in quite some time.

Working overtime, some critics argue, is starting to catch up to the Knicks: Jalen Brunson (36 minutes) was a mainstay on the New York injury reports in the early portions of the new year due to calf tightness while Karl-Anthony Towns sat out Monday’s game entirely after leaving a Saturday loss in Chicago. Towns limped to the locker room in a penultimate minute where the Knicks were trailing by double-figures.

In the loss that started this streak, a 117-107 defeat in Oklahoma City, all five metropolitan starters played at least 40 minutes. Already known as the NBA’s undeniable iron man, Mikal Bridges leads the league at 1,451 minutes, nearly a full hundred ahead of the runner-up: teammate Josh Hart (1,358). Knicks sweep the top three (OG Anunoby is nine minutes behind Hart) while Brunson and Towns are both in the top 20.

Yet, Thibodeau has steadfastly stuck to the same eight men with only injuries interrupting the procedure. Jericho Sims got the start in place of Towns on Monday, getting just under 30 minutes after playing about 20 combined in the previous nine.

Miles McBride’s continued absence due to hamstring tightness has further shrunk the bench, as Landry Fields and Cameron Payne have handled the backcourt burden. Despite impressing on the G League level, second-round rookie Tyler Kolek has been mostly relegated to mop-up duty. First-round counterpart Pacome Dadiet isn’t even one the bench, as he has spent a majority of the past few weeks with the aforementioned development club in Westchester.

The return of Mitchell Robinson — if and when it happens — should ease things up slightly, but the Magic flat out admitting that they used the Knicks’ fatigue against them could a foreboding wake-up call to their championship dreams.

“Playing 48 minutes, you’re getting screened, you’re getting hit,” Caldwell-Pope noted to Winfield. “We’re pushing the pace, all those are factors, and once we see you get tired, we’ve done our job. Now it’s time for us to get [the offense] going.”

Taking advantage of a short rotation seems to define the Magic’s season in a nutshell: despite losing franchise faces Paolo Banchero, Jaeln Suggs, Franz Wagner, and Mo Wagner to lengthy medical absences, Orlando (22-16) has maintained a spot among the Eastern Conference’s top four. Nine men played at least 16 minutes and reserves scored 50 points in the win, which followed up a disappointing defeat to lowly Utah on Sunday.

Touted sophomore and one of the bench men, Anthony Black, couldn’t help but appreciate the irony of such a squad beating a Knicks team almost voluntarily playing shorthanded.

“Those [Knicks] play super hard,” Black told Winfield. “Honestly, they play a lot of minutes. Yeah, other teams know that, of course. … We’ve got a lot of guys we can swap in. Everybody plays defense the same. Everybody’s buying into the scheme, and we’ve got a good game plan. So we just try to execute that and play hard.”

Time will tell if the Knicks opt to make any adjustments amidst this lengthy defense of the Eastern Seaboard, where only two games will be staged off the MSG premesis. Their next challenge lands on Wednesday night when the Toronto Raptors come to visit (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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