N.Y. Knicks: Surging Fourth

From the desk: KICKIN' CANS DOWN 33RD STREET WITH JIMMY

KNICKS   113

HAWKS   108

FINAL

Coach Thibodeau and the Time Bandits were at it again ...

Picking up where I left off, Monday's starting five averaged 34 minutes, but only because Julius Randall clocked in at 43 minutes and R.J. Barrett punched in at game-high 44 minutes.  Employing a tight eight-man rotation, Austin Rivers played 33 minutes off the bench.

Despite shooting 0 for 5 from the arc, Julius Randall led the Knicks with a team-high 28 points and a game-high 17 rebounds and nine assists in a five-point margin of victory over the Hawks at Atlanta.  Through seven games this season, Randall has scored 25 or more on four occasions.  The other big "timer" joined Randall in posting double-doubles.  Shooting a similar 1 for 5 from long range, RJ Barrett scored 26 points and secured eleven rebounds.  Immanuel Quickley was 4/7 from the field and 6/6 from the line for sixteen points in nineteen minutes off the bench.  

Kevin Knox II finished with six points but perhaps none more important than his three from the left corner at the third-quarter buzzer to cut the Knicks deficit to four.  

The Knicks then went on to outpace the Hawks 29-20 in the fourth quarter.  For the game, they outrebounded the Hawks by a margin of five, blocked six shots, and instigated nine steals.  

Ever since the season opener when they yielded 121 points against Indiana, the Knicks have since held opponents to 110 points or less in each of their last six games.  In fact, if you omit the opening game against the Pacers, the Knicks have yielded an average of just 102.5 points per game over their last six.

The Knicks are now 3-2 on the road and off to a 4-3 start in this young season.

• NEXT: Jazz at MSG on Wednesday

N.Y. Knicks: Coach Thibodeau's Time Bandits

From the desk: KICKIN' CANS DOWN 33RD STREET WITH JIMMY

KNICKS STARTERS 

AVERAGING 33 MINUTES PER GAME

🏀      🕰      🏀

Coach Thibodeau Time Stamping Team Effort at the Door

Six games into the season, the Knicks perhaps have already won two more contests than many anticipated.  First and foremost was their bedazzling twenty-point victory over Milwaukee.  They promptly followed up with a nine-point victory at Cleveland, and then Saturday's defensively contested win at Indiana.  A defeat at the hands of Toronto makes them 3-1 in their last four games.

The Knicks, on average, have thus far allowed 104.7 points per game, ranking them fifth-best in the league.

Hello Coach Tom Thibodeau!

If you're a starter for the Knicks, Coach is taking away the minutes that make up a dull day in an old-fashioned way (... Pink Floyd).  Said another way, he makes you work hard, and it appears as if he has the full attention of his largely young and impressionable personnel.

I'll make opening night a stand-alone game, only because it was the first game, and no one really knew what to expect - not from Thibodeau, but from this roster.  However, six games in, we have a trend to speak of.  

During game one against Indiana, seven different players registered at least twenty minutes; the starters clocked in an average of 27.6 minutes.  After the first game, what's there to say..?

During game two versus PHILA, six different players played at least twenty minutes; the starters averaged 28.4 minutes.  However, whereas Elfrid Payton started, he only played eighteen minutes.  Carrying the load off the bench were Kevin Knox II with 29 minutes and Alec Burks with 31 minutes.

Coach Thibodeau switched up and started Reggie Bullock against Milwaukee but limited him to seventeen minutes.  Similarly, six different players partake in at least twenty minutes, with two coming off the bench; Knox registered 26 minutes and Burks 21 minutes.  The five starters this time average 31.2 minutes.

Thibodeau revved things up in their victory at Cleveland, playing his five starters an average of 38.4 minutes without a single bench player achieving twenty minutes.  Coach stuck with a tight eight-man rotation with Knox, Frank Ntilikina, and Nerlens Noel, receiving sixteen minutes each.

Coach then eased up on the gas pedal against Toronto.  Seven players got at least twenty minutes, but the starting five still averaged 32.2 minutes.

SATURDAY

KNICKS   106

PACERS   102

FINAL

Saturday in their return match against the Pacers, Coach stuck with a nine-man rotation.  Elfrid Payton started and scored 19 points with five assists in 34 effective minutes.  The starting five averaged 35 minutes, but center Mitchell Robinson just missed the mark with 29 minutes.  Otherwise, the four-man bench averaged 16 minutes.

Cycling back, I am omitting game one just because ...

Under Coach Thibodeau, Knicks' starters over the last five games average 33 minutes per game and play top tier defense.  They have now played Indiana twice.  Therefore, to date, four of the Knicks' five opponents last season all qualified for the playoffs, with the lone exception being Cleveland.

With another coach in place, this team is not playing .500 basketball.  Inclusive in Tom Thibodeau and Scott Perry's job descriptions are making the recent past (twenty years) a non-issue.  Thibodeau is already garnering results.  The onus now falls on general manager Scott Perry to procure for this coach some more complimentary talent by the March trade deadline.  Nothing crazy, just someone to help share the load.  That Thibodeau is a demanding dude.

• NEXT: @ Atlanta Hawks, Monday