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Before and after Tuesday’s game in Utah, guard Austin Rivers said the Knicks were “tired.” And he indicated that it was not only physically, but also mentally.
Rivers, the most outspoken Knick, initially gave him a grueling road schedule. The Knicks were on the road during a pandemic for 13 of their first 19 games – a streak ending in Tuesday’s 108-94 fall to the Jazz.
After the Knicks were caught off guard in the fourth quarter by an embarrassing 28-13 tally, Rivers said he was unsure what the reason was but having a 15-point lead and showing no fighting in the last quarter was the proof.
“I mean, the guys were dead,” Rivers said. “So I don’t know what the reason for that was. But just looking around with six minutes left in the fourth, it didn’t seem like we were ourselves as a unit. Just our energy changed the second half. They have become more physical. They took the fight from us. It was just like it had collapsed there.
It was a damning accusation for a team built on courage – not attacking talent. Rivers, who scored 25 points in the first half and none in the second, did not blame the distribution of minutes as the cause. It also did not specify the demanding road safety protocols.
But Tom Thibodeau’s minutes can become a problem if the Knicks, who have lost three straight games, don’t back down when they return to Garden Friday against Cleveland after the eight-day, four-game Western swing.
Thibodeau is revered in the league for his coaching skills, but his win-win approach has won him some detractors. Short rotation and an inability to give up in flares and use his depth are evident in the first 19 games.
Julius Randle (36.7) and RJ Barrett (36.4), his two main cogs, are now ranked second and fourth respectively, in minutes per game in the NBA. In the fourth quarter blowout on Tuesday, Thibodeau kept Barrett on the field until 1:19 was left, up from 17. Barrett ended up recording 40:22.
It could have been a moment to give some action to the 2017 lottery pick Frank Ntilikina. Ntilikina, now in good health, did not play for the second game in a row after being sidelined for 3 and a half weeks with a sprained knee.
Thibodeau doesn’t throw in the towel easily. Against the Nets on January 13, Brooklyn won in a rout. It seemed like an obvious chance to put Randle down and give rookie Obi Toppin, in his first game after a calf injury, the chance to get back into shape.
Thibodeau kept Randle in the game and the Knicks made a feverish comeback. But the Knicks would have needed a miracle to secure the victory. They ended up losing, 116-109, and won some kudos on national television for the comeback attempt. Indeed, there was short-term success, but it raised the question of whether it was better in the long term.
Ahead of Tuesday’s game, Rivers said of the first 19 games: “I don’t know how a schedule could be more difficult than what we played. Physically and mentally.”
Thibodeau, 63, an old-school neo-Englishman Bill Belichick adores, doesn’t want to hear anything about a tough schedule or fatigue. And now things should get easier with 11 of the next 16 at the Garden.
“The schedule is the schedule,” Thibodeau said of Rivers’ remarks. “It’s balanced. Sometimes it’s in your favor. What makes it a little more unusual with the COVID stuff, you could get into teams that are off for an extended period. [like in Portland]. But it’s all part of it. You could probably find an excuse for every game. This is what you must guard against. You have to have the mental toughness to overcome anything you face. ”
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