Last season, the New York Knicks' starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns was a weakness for the team. After initially starting this season with Mitchell Robinson in place of Hart, the adjustment the team made after more than 90 games last season, they got back to that same lineup. It's looking like a mistake, once again. They're losing their minutes with that group on the floor, again, and have several other looks that outperform it. It can't take until the third round of the playoffs for the Knicks to realize they need to pivot.
Knicks need to learn same lesson earlier than they did last year
After a regular season in which that five-man grouping played more minutes than almost any other lineup in the entire NBA, the final straw came in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Knicks' starting five played almost 26 minutes of Game 1 and posted a 167.4 defensive rating. In Game 2, the lineup played nine fewer minutes but lost them by 13 points.
Then-head coach Tom Thibodeau decided that, ahead of Game 3, it was time for a change. The team subbed in Robinson for Hart and reaped the benefits in both their starting and reserve lineups. Although they didn't come back to beat the Pacers, they looked better with their alternate look.
New head coach Mike Brown brought that lineup into this season, but Mitchell Robinson's injury management plan resulting in volatile availability explains why he didn't remain in the starting lineup. The team went to Deuce McBride for several games amid injuries to Hart and Landry Shamet, but went back to Hart as soon as he returned.
New data, same conclusion for these Knicks
This isn't just about Hart, either. Ahead of Friday night's fifth-straight Knicks win, their starting five had a -0.7 net rating in the 175 minutes it had played to that point. The same lineup, but with McBride in place of Anunoby, had a +23.6 net rating in 105 minutes. McBride in place of Hart had a +0.2 mark in 86 minutes and, despite the smaller sample size, Robinson in place of Hart was a +12.8 in 50 minutes.
The numbers paint a clear picture that Hart isn't some toxic presence on the court because of his relative lack of 3-point accuracy, but rather that the specific five-man combination the team continues to trust with the majority of its minutes does not produce winning results.
While Thibodeau's team did make it to the Eastern Conference Finals playing the lineup that much, that kind of success is no guarantee in a new system where players aren't as able to lean on muscle memory for scheme execution. The time to get the new starting lineup, whatever it's going to be, the reps it needs for playoff success is now.