The Knicks are riding a four-game winning streak, but perhaps most importantly, the team's young core is starting to get more consistent playing time down the stretch.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau has long defended his use of the team's young core, even since the season has appeared to be one without a play-in berth, but the playing time has clearly seen a shift. After Jericho Sims, Miles McBride, Quentin Grimes, and Immanuel Quickley played nearly all of the fourth quarter in New York's win over the Heat on Friday, the neophytes saw plenty of playing time in the fourth quarter in Monday's win over the Bulls. Obi Toppin, who fans have clamored to see in crunch time more often, played, 8:28 of the fourth quarter, while RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley played all 12 minutes. Meanwhile, Evan Fourier played just over a minute, and Julius Randle played 3:32.
"We have a number of young guys," Thibodeau said. "People forget, Julius is still young.
"You're learning, you're dealing with finishing. You could always take something away. Sometimes, you may think a game is over…teams come back from big deficits all the time."
The Knicks have certainly been on the wrong end of that spectrum plenty of times this season, consistently blowing big second-half leads in what could wind up being the difference between a play-in berth and the season ending after the regular season finale on April 10. But Thibodeau seems to finally be leaning in to the growth of his young core, and it is paying immediate dividends, not just hopeful ones in the future.
"The big thing is we're playing all these young guys and they're getting valuable experience," Thibodeau said.
"There's nothing you can do in practice that can replicate the intensity of a game. Why would you not use the game for your young guys to develop?"
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