{"id":120521,"date":"2025-01-28T16:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=120521"},"modified":"2025-01-28T16:07:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:07:29","slug":"knicks-undefeated-with-9-man-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/28\/knicks-undefeated-with-9-man-rotation\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Undefeated With 9-Man Rotation"},"content":{"rendered":"

For much of Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau’s career, he’s been known for the heavy workload he imposes on his best players. He’s often unwilling to trust less qualified bench players with crucial minutes, and this season has been no different. Four of New York’s starters are in the top five of minutes played<\/a>, causing overuse concerns from the fanbase<\/a>. It certainly seemed that the team was exhausted during a tough stretch where they lost six of nine<\/a>. However, injuries to their more experienced backups have put Thibodeau in a difficult position. It’s a more complex issue than it seems, but Thibs has seemed to heed the clamoring fanbase. Since their embarrassing home loss to Minnesota in Julius Randle<\/a>‘s return the Knicks have gone to a nine-man rotation. It has yielded great results.<\/p>\n

Knicks Undefeated With 9-Man Rotation<\/h2>\n

After losing 116-99 to the Wolves in Randle’s much-awaited return to the Garden, Knicks fans officially sounded the alarm bells. The team was clearly exhausted from four games in six nights with huge minutes for the starters. Moreover, Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> missed two of those contests. What was supposed to be a quality perimeter defense was instead getting bombarded with open threes, as NY couldn’t stop the endless dribble penetration. Even the second-ranked offense<\/a> in basketball can’t overcome that.<\/p>\n

Whether Thibs switched to a nine-man rotation because of lack of effort or not, it’s worked wonders. By simply playing ‘Miles ‘Deuce’ McBride<\/a>, Cameron Payne<\/a>, Precious Achiuwa<\/a>, and Landry Shamet<\/a> 10-plus minutes a night<\/a>, Thibs has given his top five brand new energy. No starter has eclipsed 37 minutes per game over the last four outings, and New York has gone 4-0. The defensive intensity has had a complete 180, with Mikal Bridges<\/a> and OG Anunoby<\/a> completely locked in. In a recent win against the Memphis Grizzlies, Bridges was masterful as the primary defender on Ja Morant<\/a>. In fact, Bridges’ has been incredible<\/a> in four straight outings as the main defender against four very skilled guards.<\/p>\n

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Mikal Bridges in his last four games has been matched up with Trae Young, D\u2019Angelo Russell, De\u2019Aaron Fox, and Ja Morant. <\/p>\n

Those guys shot 25\/72 (34.7%) in those games. This demon is back. \ud83d\ude08 pic.twitter.com\/HIAlCO94kQ<\/a><\/p>\n

— Tom Thibadome, Owner of the Thibsdale Thibadome (@Thibadome) January 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n