The NBA season is starting to enter a crucial stretch as we come down to the final month of regular season play. Teams will be jockeying for position for the playoffs, while others will likely want to get their stars some rest before the real games begin in April. There is one team that certainly might want to consider doing that, but I think we all know it isn’t going to happen under the watch of one of the most competitive coaches in the league.
The New York Knicks would be the team in question, and with head coach Tom Thibodeau in charge, we can be sure that his starters aren’t going to be taking a seat anytime soon. The combination of Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, and Miles Bridges have played a combined 826 minutes together this season. That is, by a mile, the most minutes any 5-man lineup has played together this season, with the next-highest being just 528 minutes. That is a 300 minute gap, which is massive.
Obviously, the NBA probably likes that Thibs doesn’t believe in rest days. That makes his team much more desirable to watch, and to buy tickets for, because fans know they will get to see the stars play with no restrictions. There are never any phantom injuries with the Knicks that other teams have just to rest a guy, you get what you pay for. While the fans and league will be pleased with that strategy, it could backfire on them when it comes time to lay it all on the line.
Because no starters have gotten much rest and play almost entire games each night, that can really start to break down your body, especially if you aren’t used to it. A guy like Jalen Brunson, who has played under Thibs for a while now, probably won’t be affected by it as much because his conditioning is used to it. However, someone like Karl-Anthony Towns may really start to feel the effects of fatigue when the playoffs start. The Knicks simply can’t afford to have someone as important as Towns not at 100% for the playoffs.
We have seen this happen before with previous teams that Thibs has coached. He’s actually become famous in the league now for his “hatred” of playing rookies and his relentless desire to play his starters all 48 minutes if he could.
Perhaps his most famous, or should I say infamous, example of this was the 2012 NBA Wild Card game against the Philadelphia 76ers. He coached the Chicago Bulls at the time, and the team was up by double-digits very late in the game. Defending league MVP Derrick Rose was still playing with the starters even with the game already in hand, and fatefully, he tore his ACL on a drive to the basket. This started the downward spiral of what was otherwise going to be a Hall of Fame career for Rose.
There was simply no need for him to be in the game, but Thibs insisted on playing his starters no matter the situation. Of course, that may have happened in the next game, but I think we can acknowledge it was a bad move, and his massive minutes playing under Thibs probably shortened his career. I am not defending “load management”, as I think you should play if you are healthy, but maybe not 44 minutes a game.
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