Tom Thibodeau sees All-Star break as Knicks' chance to recharge for stretch run
Knicks forward Bojan Bogdanovic, left, looks back as head coach Tom Thibodeau, right, protests a foul call during the first half of an NBA game against the Rockets on Monday in Houston. Credit: AP/Michael Wyke
ORLANDO, Fla. — There is limping to the finish line and then there is what the Knicks are experiencing as they faced the last stop before the All-Star break.
The Knicks were already without Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson with long-term injuries. And shortly before game time against the Orlando Magic Wednesday, coach Tom Thibodeau went down the list and scratched all three players who were questionable in the morning: Donte DiVincenzo (sore right hamstring), Isaiah Hartenstein (left Achilles tendinopathy) and Bojan Bogdanovic (sore left calf).
Asked if he was happy that the break had arrived, Thibodeau said, “I’m never happy.”
With good reason this time as he nursed a M*A*S*H unit through these final days before the break. The Knicks had only nine players available and that included two players on two-way contracts — Jacob Toppin and Charlie Brown Jr. — and 38-year-old Taj Gibson, who was on his second 10-day contract.
“I think you look around at the league, it’s part of the league,” Thibodeau said. “You’re 50-some games into your season, so we’ll have 27 left after tonight’s game. The guys who have played, you get nicked up along the way, so I think [the break is] welcome from that standpoint.
“You get a chance to recharge, for everyone to recharge, and you’re headed down the stretch after. We have to hit the ground running. I’m proud of what our guys have done thus far to be able to withstand all the things that we’ve gone through from the heavy road schedule at the beginning, trades, injuries. But we’ve still got a long way to go and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for what’s coming.”
Thibodeau indicated that he believed the three late scratches are all expected to be available against Philadelphia on Thursday of next week. But for now, he had to figure out how to get through one more game as the Knicks were already reeling from three straight losses.
That meant that Alec Burks, who just arrived less than a week earlier in a trade, was in the starting lineup Wednesday, along with Jericho Sims, who had been out with an illness until Monday. Burks, at least, has played for Thibodeau and the Knicks before, making the adjustment a little simpler.
And a player like Gibson, who wondered if his career might be over when he was waived by the Knicks earlier this season, is trying to work himself into game shape on the run.
“I was playing basketball, but it’s different from game basketball,” Gibson said. “There’s working-out basketball. Still, you have to catch your rhythm. It’s tough for you to be on the end of the bench and then maybe start or get thrown in. You have to keep punching away. You’re going to have some lows and some highs, but I’ve got to keep putting my two cents in and it’s going to pay off.”
Going from the end of the bench to the lineup is one thing, but Gibson went from working out on his own, keeping his usual level of conditioning to a heavy workload as soon as he joined the team again.
“Yeah, that’s a part of it,” Gibson said. “They understand it — that I’ve got to get in the swing of things. But I’m not going to shy away from it. I’ll take it on the chin.”
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.
