The Knicks “could” expand their rotation beyond seven players when they face Indiana in the Eastern Conference semifinals, according to Tom Thibodeau, but New York’s head coach isn’t making any promises either way, as Peter Botte of The New York Post details.
Nine players saw action for the Knicks in the first round, but Bojan Bogdanovic suffered a foot injury during the series that ended his season and Precious Achiuwa – a DNP-CD in four of six games vs. Philadelphia – only played when Mitchell Robinson was unavailable. In addition to his starters, Thibodeau essentially only used Robinson and Miles McBride off the bench, Botte writes.
If the Knicks do roll with an eight-man rotation in round two, Achiuwa is the most likely candidate to see regular playing time, says Botte. An undersized center, Achiuwa may match up better against a Pacers front line led by Myles Turner, who spends more time on the perimeter and isn’t as imposing in the paint as Joel Embiid.
Alec Burks is another candidate to see some action off the bench, but he played poorly down the stretch after being acquired from Detroit, shooting just 30.7% from the floor in 23 regular season appearances as a Knick.
Here’s more out of New York:
- Josh Hart has been a perfect fit for the Knicks as a player on the court and for New York City as a personality off the court, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Current TNT analyst Stan Van Gundy, who coached Hart in New Orleans earlier in his career, tells Bondy that he viewed Hart as a player who “lived for” the biggest games and the biggest moments. “Josh was always great when you played the best teams, when he got the matchup with the best players,” Van Gundy said. “You never had to worry about him.”
- After a clip from a February podcast in which he referred to Indiana as “bottom of the barrel” resurfaced ahead of the Knicks’ second-round series, Hart is prepared to hear boos from the Pacers faithful in Indianapolis. According to Botte, Hart sheepishly tried to walk back his comments by calling Indianapolis a “great city” and insisting he loves Indiana. “Do I think I’ll probably get booed? Probably,” Hart said. “It’s funny. But for me it’s always like, I don’t mind it. That’s their job. Their job is to boo, to get loud, cheer for their team. So, like I said, as long as I can get some Long’s Bakery donuts, I’ll be solid.”
- Jason Kidd is the latest NBA head coach to sign a contract extension, having completed a new deal with the Mavericks earlier today. Could Thibodeau be next? As Van Gundy tells Bondy, the Knicks’ coach, whose current contract expires in 2025, looks like an obvious candidate for an extension. “I think it would be a real mistake on (the Knicks’) part not to lock him up for a lot of years,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t think it’s something Tom has to worry about. He certainly wants to be there. Any organization that it’s in a win-now mode would want him, so he’s going to have a job. … But I think he’d rather be there and they should want to lock him up for as long as they possibly can.”
- Donte DiVincenzo will get the assignment as the primary defender on Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton to open the second-round series. Brian Lewis of The New York Post takes a look at how DiVincenzo is approaching that challenge.
Toppin could be a sneaky x-factor this series in some form. The Duece v McConnell matchup will be fun and feisty as well
I Imagine Indys forwards staying out on the perimeter more will have PA see some minutes with NY this series
I think Burks is Thibs’ only real option for an 8th (full) rotation guy. PA will likely get some minutes, but it’s really the perimeter group that needs to be supplemented. PA can’t do much to help there. Not about minutes. It’s mostly about adding another shooter to the mix. We’re too vulnerable to a bad shooting night by even one of our role players.
I’ve always liked Burks, but he’s been beyond disappointing since the trade. There was supposedly a physical issue, but he hasn’t been on the injury report in the post-season. Now or never really. The rotation isn’t going to expand after this round.
Burks is not playing unless there is an injury. Once in Thibs doghouse never come out.
Burks, I can guarantee, is not in Thibs’ doghouse.
Knicks fans
Would you take this trade?
Draymond Green and Moody for Randle?
Randle has 3 years $90 million contract remaining.
Only if they were really drunk and in the same room as Draymond…
As a Knick fan this is a great trade for NY and one I’ve thought about. I don’t think GS would ever make this trade as Dray is their defensive spine.
Randle has 2 yrs left on contract, 2nd a player option where he’ll be looking for a 4 yr extension.
Brunson do for an extension which he will be given on a silver platter. Adding OG at $35M for 4 years constrains finances.
Randle is kind of the odd man out in NY. He’s the oldest of the core at 30.
Dray older but IMO would thrive under Thibs and love the NY spotlight. Has 3 yrs left on his contract 25M per, good deal despite his age.
Thibs doesn’t like to go small at the 5 but can with Dray and OG on the floor together.
Knicks need a young wing and Moody better than anyone can draft or likely sign on open market but I don’t see Moddy being moved, especially if Klay and/or Wiggins leaves.
If they can, the Knicks need to do something to take some pressure off Brunson. He’s a great player but how much longer can he hold up? He’s literally carrying this team.
TNT bunch of Haters. Kenny is bandwagon.
Knicks are deeper Sir Charles. And yes Kenny we will play any pace WE want. No problem. We run the game. …
OG has never played as a Knick against Pacers. Big game …… OG
Don’t forget SVG. He’s still bitter about his brother getting canned in NY. No idea how he’s a color commentator with his legacy in Detroit. He completely destroyed that franchise and TNT thinks he can be entertaining and insightful.
JVG left the Knicks in the 2001 season for personal reasons. He was not fired.
Uh huh.
They’ve always been out to stir controversy…
It’s usually entertaining…
You can often tell that the commentary team of any NBA game has spent 10 mins before the game talking about what they will disagree about during the game…
Knicks’ Jalen Brunson says Mavericks twice declined to offer 4-year, $55M deal: ‘I really did want to stay,
If Mavs have Brunson but without Hardaway.
How good are the Mavs now?
Thibs should put Precious on Siakam…
Wake up
Pacers playing ….. need Stops
link to music.youtube.com
Love it ……
I really want to go ten deep. Thibs please,
It’s Thibs… 40+ for the starters doesn’t leave much room for 4 bench guys, let alone 5…
Let alone 3.
McBride 10:36, Mitch 11:47, Achiuwa 4:18.
Thibs played guys too many mins. Sims with young legs. Should have played. Knick starters all played 40 mins plus. This will come back to bite us. Don’t like it. Achiuwa only 5 mins. Burkes, McBride, Sims, Mitch, Milton all should play mins imo.
Milton? Now you’ve gone too far.
If he ramps up Achiuwa, Robinson and McBride, I think they have it well covered for the playoffs. Simms is fine during the season but he’ll get owned by better teams and talent that is on the court this time of the year. The team seems fine with the crazy pace, but Brunson is the one I worry about. He needs to sit end of third and 4 minutes into the 4th if possible to keep his legs strong for the finish. He pushes himself, which is admirable, but also concerning. 11 more games to ‘win,’ so he’ll need to figure it out. The other benefit is that the travel isn’t too much since it stays in the east for the majority until the finals.
Agreed, you can survive Game 1 and maybe win another game or two in the series like this. For a long series against a tough team like the Pacers, this seems unsustainable.
It leads to mistakes and turnovers at the end because these dudes are just so damn tired. And as the series goes on, that’s even harder to sustain.
Deuce needs more mins, Precious too, and we need someone else to give the Nova trio some rest. I say try Burks or Milton, probably not both. If you try Burks and he sucks, then try Milton. Don’t trust Sims in these big games and think we have enough bigs that he doesn’t have to play unless there’s foul trouble.
It’s not about trying to match what their bench does. But the starters need more rest to finish games strong. And it looks like it’s gonna be a tight, tough series.