Since the 2021-22 season, the New York Knicks have improved their win total in each consecutive year. They won 47 games in 2022-23, 50 games in 2024-25, and are on pace to exceed that win mark in the current season. New York is building toward greatness, and their roster is in better shape than ever to do so.
As the Knicks have been building their winning formula, we have seen one problem routinely put them in a tough position: Starters and other key players being on the floor for too long, with high minute totals eventually leading to burnout. This is nothing new to Knicks fans, as leaning heavily on starters has been a staple of Tom Thibodeau's strategy for years.
We saw this Thibs tactic ultimately doom New York last year in the playoffs, as fatigue and injuries unquestionably contributed to their Game 7 loss in the second round to the Indiana Pacers last May. It is why many have questioned the Knicks' strategy, and why some do not see them as a legitimate threat to come out of the East unless something changes. Truthfully, it is difficult to win while placing such a heavy workload on your starters. But what we are seeing is that this trend has begun to take a turn in the right direction.
Thibodeau has generally lowered his players' minutes
Last month, Mikal Bridges revealed that he voiced his concern over this matter to Thibodeau himself. "Sometimes it's not fun on the body," Bridges said. "We've got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there." Since Mikal's comments were made public, we have seen improvements when it comes to minutes for the Knicks' starters.
Bridges himself has played 40 minutes or more just twice in the 11 games since March 12, after much more routinely hitting that mark before. Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns have all seen more reasonable minute totals on a regular basis as well. As the regular season draws to a close, rolling back the starters' minutes is undoubtedly going to help this team.
Reducing these guys' minutes is an even more necessary strategy when you consider that playoff seeding for the Knicks is all but decided anyway. Indiana is a full three games behind New York, and only an utter collapse would make the Knicks fall to the four seed. Prepping the starters for the postseason and keeping their bodies as fresh as possible has to be of the utmost importance, and New York appears to be on their way to avoiding what ultimately doomed them last season.