Knicks' Josh Hart, OG Anunoby miss first game after All-Star break, put team in next-man-up mode
Deuce McBride of the Knicks dunks the ball during the second quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
If there is one thing we’ve learned more than offensive or defensive schemes through the first 970 games of Tom Thibodeau’s head-coaching career, it’s that he doesn’t take a night off, never giving up a game, no matter the circumstance.
So he certainly wasn’t about to wave the white flag in game No. 971 Thursday night when the Knicks hosted the Chicago Bulls, even as he trotted out a starting lineup without Josh Hart and OG Anunoby. For Thibodeau and the Knicks, it was another night of next man up.
There was no hint of status moving forward for Hart or Anunoby, both of whom Thibodeau described as day-to-day, and he provided even less insight into the potential return of Mitchell Robinson, who practiced in full Tuesday and Wednesday (Tuesday’s practice session was the first one this season in which the Knicks had their full roster available). Hart sat out Wednesday’s session with patellofemoral syndrome in his right knee, also known as runner’s knee.
“You trust the medical people, the player,” Thibodeau said. “So when they’re ready to go, they go, and if they’re not ready to go, they don’t go. And then the next guy gets in there.
“And I think, going into the season, you understand you’re going to hit stretches like that and you have to have a strategy for everything. If we’re in a back-to-back, we worry about the first game. We’ll worry about the second game tomorrow but stay locked in to what we have to do today. If you’re available, great. And if not, the next guy has to be ready.”
After Wednesday’s practice, Karl-Anthony Towns said, “We’ve done a great job of sustaining what we need to do and being where we need to be right now, at this point in the season. The next-man-up mentality of the guys in the locker room has been great. To be able to get people, and Mitch, and everyone back, it gives us a chance to hone in on our team as a whole.”
Thibodeau said Hart had knee soreness. Anunoby, who missed the last five games before the break with a sprained foot, was held out, still not ruled ready despite the long All-Star break. Robinson, who practiced five-on-five with no issues Wednesday, was ruled out Wednesday for Thursday’s game, and Thibodeau would not speculate on his availability for the upcoming games against Cleveland and Boston.
Despite Thibodeau’s usual praise for the opposition and insistence that no one gets to the NBA without being a great player, Thursday’s task didn’t figure to be a tough one.
The Bulls came in with four straight losses and a 22-33 record, having traded away Zach LaVine just ahead of the break and lost Patrick Williams to a knee injury, but Thibodeau still went through the roster, detailing how tough it would be.
“They play with a lot of speed,” he said. “The speed of the game is something you’re concerned with. The skill set of [Nikola] Vucevic, he can spread you out. He can play in the post, he can play on the perimeter and he can play in between. Real clever.
“The speed of the game — what [Josh] Giddey can do with the ball, what [Lonzo] Ball does. And when you look at what [Coby] White brings to the table — the shooting ability but also the ability to go off the dribble. So we’re concerned about that as well.”
While a full roster may not be as vital against the Bulls at Madison Square Garden as it will be Friday night in Cleveland or Sunday afternoon in Boston, the missing pieces still put a crimp in the Knicks’ rotation.
Without his starting forwards, Thibodeau shifted Mikal Bridges over, inserting Deuce McBride into the starting lineup at shooting guard, and added Precious Achiuwa into Anunoby’s place at power forward.
“Whatever your circumstances are, you deal with them as best you can,” Thibodeau said. “We had guys out, so it was an opportunity for the new guys to get time together. So we tried to take advantage of it that way. Now that you have more depth, you take advantage of it the other way. You need everyone over the course of the season, so just get in there and get the job done.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
