Back in November, Josh Hart griped a little about what he felt was a reduced role in the Knicks‘ offense and expressed a desire to play more. As Fred Katz of The Athletic writes, Hart has no complaints about how much he’s playing in the postseason (46.6 minutes per game), joking earlier this week that the only activity that tires him out isn’t basketball-related.
“My wife arguing with me,” he said. “That makes me extremely tired.”
Still, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscription required) wonders how sustainable it is to have Hart and the Knicks’ other starters playing such heavy minutes as their season continues well into the spring. With Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Mitchell Robinson now out for the playoffs, Precious Achiuwa will likely enter New York’s rotation as its seventh man, but head coach Tom Thibodeau hasn’t shown much trust in anyone further down the depth chart.
The Pacers, living up to their name, played at the fastest pace this season of any playoff team, and there will be fewer days off between games in the second round than there were in the first, Bondy notes. According to guard Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana is hoping to take advantage of its depth and wear down New York over the course of the second-round series.
“We’re a pretty deep team. Probably the deepest in the league,” Haliburton said. “So we’re trying to use that to our advantage by getting up and pressuring and trying to wear on these guys as much as we can for a seven-game series.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Robinson’s latest injury underscores how important it is for the Knicks to re-sign Isaiah Hartenstein when he reaches unrestricted free agency this summer, Bondy writes in another New York Post story. Holding Hartenstein’s Early Bird rights, the Knicks will be able to offer him a starting salary worth up to approximately $16MM. While the expectation is that it won’t take more than that to retain Hartenstein, his value could continue to rise if he enjoys a strong playoff run without Robinson available to share the workload in the middle.
- With his Game 1 performance vs. Indiana, Jalen Brunson became just one of four players in NBA history to score 40 or more points in four consecutive playoff games, joining Jerry West, Michael Jordan, and former Knicks star Bernard King. As Katz details for The Athletic, Brunson’s teammates and head coach appreciate the fact that – as great as he’s playing – he wants to keep getting better. “The thing that’s impressive, it’s always within the context of winning and his teammates and that’s always the most important thing to him,” Thibodeau said. “And I love his mentality because his mentality is that he’s not satisfied.”
- While Donte DiVincenzo obviously hasn’t replaced Randle as the Knicks’ power forward in recent months, DiVincenzo’s ability to defend perimeter players, serve as a legitimate No. 2 scoring option, and step up in clutch moments has helped the team make up for the loss of its star forward, argues Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post.
After reading this, Josh Hart’s wife about to start a legit argument when he gets home.
NBA should be deeper than it has ever been. Thibs better get with the times. You can go ten deep today., why not. I know you have to do it to play it in the playoffs. Achiuwa, McBride, Sims, now Burkes, Milton. Manage the mins, better Thibs. Please don’t burn them out. Manage mins to win …..
Imo Achiuwa can have a good series here. I wish he’d play more. No Mitch ….. so here we go right.
Why not? Apparently some players like Hart can go 48 without slowing down (and even Donte and McBride can pull it off if necessary). Never been a fan of Thibs bench management, but based on their success and the way they’ve played this year, I’ll own up and sit the sidelines and not critique him doing his thing. Not a fan, but won’t question success.
Real team success is going ten deep. I know they want to win. It’s 2024 you should have 10 good players. We are talking two guys at 10-15 mins.
10 is ideal for any team, no argument there, but with the injuries to Randle and now Robinson, he’s not going to get that performance from anyone on the bench beyond the seven he’s rotating. Would’ve been 9 if healthy and Prince should be used more often, thus a full 10.
If starters continue playing so many minutes they better not go to seven games. Otherwise they’ll be too tired to face the Celtics… I mean the winners of the other series
Pacers transition D been poor thus far in NY. Limit knicks hustle, transition points and keep Brunson off the line will go along way to beating New York. Easily said than done when JB is allowed to completely change direction, jump into you or mini Bron dose you and get rewarded. Fixing that transition D is in your control though. Knicks dunking the ball off a missed free throw isn’t going to get Indy wins.
Now Brunson ????????
It’s a conspiracy …….
Want to see more ball movement. Knicks should run more without Halen . Flip the script
Haliburton 22 pts, 12 FG
OG 22pts 15 FG
We need to steal this one. With out Jalen.
Hope he’s good, please.
Oh oh OH oh Oh oh ooooohhhhh
Kkkkkkkkkkk ………
So who will be available to play next gm. Knicks report. We await you.
OG is serious….