Why Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau needs to cool it with big minutes for key players

It’s hard to argue that Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is having anything but a spectacular year. His team was 32-17, good for second in the East, prior to getting hit with a barrage of injuries.

Ever since the rotation and roster began taking shape around his strengths and ethos, New York has been a competitive, nasty team to contend against. He’s stuck to his guns in demanding the most out of his players from a defensive effort and work ethic standpoint, and has been rewarded with the right guys to turn that culture and strategy into wins.

But for all the good that comes from Thibodeau’s steadfast approach, there are some drawbacks. He can be rigid in his game plan and favor guys, is a beat slow to adjust on the fly, and can overextend people’s playing time.

We’re seeing that last one come into focus this week, with the Knicks clinging to their top-four seeding while trying to find enough healthy bodies to fill five-man units for 48 minutes. Instead of swallowing some short-term concessions in favor of long-term health, Thibs is in his usual pedal-to-the-metal, every minute matters mode.

Without discrediting the work he’s done all year, these past few games have been a sore spot. The Knicks are limping into All-Star Weekend without three starters (Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, Isaiah Hartenstein) while playing three players 40 minutes a night over the last eight games.

Since Randle and Anunoby’s last game together — against the Miami Heat at the end of January — Donte DiVincenzo has played 40.4 minutes a night, Precious Achiuwa 40.3 and Josh Hart 39.4, making up three of the NBA’s top-five in the last eight contests. Jalen Brunson is in the top-15 with 37.3, despite suffering an ankle injury and missing one game during this stretch.

Others have also gone down under this extra load. DiVincenzo just hit the injury list with a sore hamstring, Hartenstein has been nursing a sore Achilles, and even Anunoby had three 40-minute nights in a row before his elbow issue flared up.

Correlation doesn’t equal causation — these injuries could have been long-standing issues or freak accidents. On top of that, many of these big-minute games were entirely justified when looking at the context.

Still, a lot of actions have been unjustified. For example, playing the starting unit all 12 minutes of Monday’s third quarter against the Houston Rockets, including Josh Hart — who has dealt with knee issues all season after playing for Team USA this summer — and Achiuwa the entire second half.

Winning is everything to this coach, a favorable quality for this franchise and fanbase — to an extent. Some wins are a lot more valuable and need to be weighed accordingly.

A Feb. 12 win with a badly depleted roster trying to get to the All-Star break without another injury does not measure up to the wins New York wants in April, May, and even June. The championship aspirations are real for this roster, but not if they can’t get healthy.

Should Thibodeau have taken his foot off the gas for the Rockets game, and maybe a couple others before that by holding Brunson out? You can debate that, but there’s no way Thibodeau — or Brunson for that matter — would ever allow that to happen.

There are still adjustments that can be made. Thibs has a couple more weapons he can rely on more heavily once they’re up to speed in trade acquisitions Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic.

Miles McBride’s minutes have strangely fallen way off despite his breakout campaign, as Thibodeau doesn’t feel inclined to play him alongside Brunson with other options available. He’s played a combined 16 minutes the last two games when he should’ve been entrusted with more.

Thibs won’t even entertain spot bench minutes for Charlie Brown Jr. or Jacob Toppin. They’re fringe options to be sure, but to save key rotation guys minutes, why not? Simply avoiding playing anybody full 12-minute quarters should be doable, but it’s been a common occurrence since the injuries.

There’s no denying Thibodeau has been the best Knicks coach of the millennium and deserves to stay in that seat for the foreseeable future, just as there’s no denying he has some questionable quirks that come with his legendary culture-setting. But he’s shown the ability to evolve when the moment calls for it, and if New York wants to make a championship run, he’ll need to do so again.