New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau refuses to rest his players, and it could cost the Knicks a chance at the NBA Finals.
Thibodeau’s Knicks have started the first half of their season by exceeding expectations with a 33-22 record, good enough for fourth in the Eastern Conference. Despite this promising start, the Knicks have lost five of their last six games; however, the team has been unable to field their strongest squad.
As the NBA heads into the All-Star Break, the New York Knicks have become plagued with injuries. Stars like OG Anunoby and Julius Randle are expected to miss multiple weeks, while others like Isaiah Hartentstein are day-to-day.
Since the Anunoby and Randle duo have gone down with injuries, their replacements, Donte DiVincenzo, Precious Achiuwa and Josh Hart, have averaged 40 minutes per game, good enough for three of the top five players with the most minutes over their last eight games.
Since then, DiVincenzo has had an injury of his own, hurting his hamstring in the Knicks’ recent loss to the Houston Rockets. His injury makes it a laughable seven players out injured for Thibodeau’s squad heading into the break — nearly half of an NBA 15-man roster.
Thibodeau has a history of keeping his players in the game unnecessarily, with perhaps the most infamous instance occurring when he was the coach of the Chicago Bulls. In a first-round playoff matchup against the Chicago Bulls in 2012, Thibodeau decided to leave young star Derrick Rose in the game despite Chicago’s 12-point lead and there being only 1:22 on the clock. For many NBA fans, what happens next is one of our generation’s great tragedies. Rose would attempt a layup, planting his left foot awkwardly, and he would tear his ACL. This injury would lead to Rose missing the 2012-13 season and continued damage throughout his career.
After the injury, Thibodeau tried to explain away the criticism.
“There’s no issue there. It’s a playoff game. They had cut a lead down to 12, and we’re going to have our guys on the floor making sure that we win the basketball game…Again, you’re in a playoff game where eight or 10 points have cut a lead. It’s a key time of the year, and you’re trying to win the game, finish strong, and win the game,” said Thibodeau, addressing the media after the incident.
This “any team can come back no matter how little time is left” attitude has been a staple among Thibodeau’s rhetoric regarding his load management philosophy — and he may have a good reason to believe so.
Last season, the Thibodeau-led Knicks lost a game against the Dallas Mavericks, where they held a nine-point lead with 33.2 seconds left. Although these types of wins are a possibility, they are anomalies. NBA teams were 0-13,884 in the last 20 seasons when trailing by at least nine with 35 or fewer seconds remaining in regulation up until that point.
Thibodeau’s propensity for overworking players is no secret in the league. In a poll conducted by The Athletic in the spring of last year, players around the league were asked, ”Which current coach, aside from your own, would you least want to play for?” Thibodeau received over 43% of the total 55 votes.
“He plays his guys 44 minutes (a game) all year,” said an anonymous player in the vote.
There were signs of Thibodeau’s struggles with load management earlier this season after Knicks players Jalen Brunson and Hart returned from the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
After their return from the competition, Thibodeau took it easy with Brunson and Hart, allotting Brunson just 20 minutes and Hart seven and a half minutes because “he was a little nicked up.”
Despite resting these two players, he did not rest former Knick RJ Barrett, who played more minutes than both Brunson and Hart at the World Cup. Thibodeau failed to be specific when asked about his logic behind these choices. “It’s a good question,” said the Knicks coach. “It’s just how we feel we should manage it right now.”
The Knicks have two players in the top 20 regarding average minutes per game. Despite this, only a Knicks starter can be found in the top 20 of games played this season. Funnily enough, players in that top 20 are Knicks players who are commonly brought forward in the form of Hart and DiVincenzo to fill gaps in the lineup. DiVincenzo will probably drop out of the top 20 because of his recent injury.
The Knicks can still look forward to having all their players back well in time for the playoffs, but they should view their current injury report as a sign of things to come if they cannot balance their roster.
Knowing this, the Knicks traded for Pistons’ forward Bojan Bogdanović, a 20 points-per-game player who allows for a better rotation of their stars. Unfortunately for the Knicks, Bogdanović has already picked up an injury in the form of a sore calf — another stress-related injury, joining the likes of Anunoby.
It does not appear that Thibodeau will change his ways anytime soon. Given the sheer amount of injuries, the Knicks risk losing all momentum heading into the playoffs in a league where a hot streak can mean everything in the postseason.
Thibodeau and a somewhat rested Knicks roster will head to Philadelphia after the break to take on their rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers, on Feb. 22.
