BENCHING THE KNICKS STARTERS: ‘BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, THE SEASON’S OVER’!
Tom Thibodeau doesn’t believe the New York Knicks https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/new-york/ starters, who lead the league in minutes played together, need more games to develop decent chemistry. They should already have it.
Thibodeau benched his starting lineup for the entirety of the fourth quarter on Wednesday night against the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/milwaukee/. The Knicks trailed, 82-66, and went on to lose by a similar margin, 112-100 https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/milwaukee-bucks-new-york-knicks-2021111018/. But the bench erased a 22-point deficit to tie the game with five minutes left.
Afterward, Thibodeau dismissed the notion that Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson needed more time together to develop chemistry.
“You know what they say: When it’s 10 games, they say you need 20,” Thibodeau said. “When you say 20, they say you need 30; at 30, you say 40.
“And before you know it, the season is over. So that’s a bunch of bulls***.”
