About a month before Wednesday’s season opener, new Knicks head coach Mike Brown detailed how deep he likes to go with his rotation.
“If you look at what I’ve done in the past, it’s usually 9 ½ to 10 guys,” Brown said on Sept. 23. “I try to play as many guys as I can.”
It turns out Brown was underselling himself just a bit.
Brown used 11 players in the Knicks’ 119-111 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night — and they all played within the game’s first 13 minutes.
Ten of them played at least 12 minutes. Nobody played more than OG Anunoby’s 38.
And that was on a night the Knicks were without two key players in guard Josh Hart (lumbar spasms) and center Mitchell Robinson (left ankle injury management).
It was a far cry from last season, when Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks led the NBA in starter minutes, and thus ranked dead last in bench minutes.
Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns and Ariel Hukporti started Wednesday’s game.
Guerschon Yabusele was the first off the bench, coming in at the 7:27 mark of the first quarter after Towns was called for his second foul.
Miles “Deuce” McBride, Trey Jemison III and Landry Shamet all played in the first quarter, too, while Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Kolek were on the floor to begin the second.
Anunoby led the Knicks with 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Brunson finished with 23 points on 5-of-18 shooting in 34 minutes.
Bridges played 33 minutes, while Towns — who played through a right quad strain — scored 19 points with 11 rebounds in 31 minutes.
McBride led the reserves with 15 points in 26 minutes. Clarkson scored four points on 2-of-7 shooting in 13 minutes, while Yabusele did not score and corralled one rebound in 12 minutes.
Thibodeau’s reliance on his starters was a frequent talking point during his five-year tenure as the Knicks’ head coach, and never more so than last season.
Bridges led the NBA by totaling 3,036.1 minutes, and Hart ranked second with 2,896.8. Bridges, Hart and Anunoby all ranked within the top six among NBA players in minutes per game, while Brunson and Towns finished within the top 25, too. All five averaged at least 35.0 minutes per game.
For the majority of the postseason, only Robinson and McBride played meaningful minutes off of the bench.
Revamping that bench was a major priority for the Knicks, who added Clarkson, Yabusele and Malcolm Brogdon, the latter of whom retired last week in a surprise decision.
Brogdon’s sudden retirement left a void at reserve point guard, which Kolek filled by playing 14 minutes — and scoring seven points with two assists — with Brunson on the bench.
Kolek, a second-round pick in 2024, averaged only 7.2 minutes per game over 41 appearances as a rookie last season.
Brunson played the full first quarter before sitting for six minutes in the second, three minutes in the third and 4 ½ minutes to begin the fourth.
Brown frequently staggered Brunson and Towns’ minutes. He played Towns during Brunson’s stints on the bench to start the second and fourth quarters, then subbed Towns out as Brunson returned at the 7:30 mark of the fourth.
Towns then replaced Hukporti with 4:47 left in regulation, and he and Brunson finished out the game together.
Hukporti, a second-year center, started with Robinson and Hart unavailable and gave the Knicks two points, five rebounds and a block in 18 minutes.
After averaging 8.7 minutes per game in 25 appearances as a rookie, the 7-foot Hukporti could fill a larger role this season, especially as the Knicks manage Robinson’s minutes after he underwent a pair of left ankle surgeries between December 2023 and May 2024.
“The biggest thing is trying to make sure you watch everybody’s minutes instead of trying to chase games,” Brown said later in September during the Knicks’ trip to Abu Dhabi.
“There might be some games where maybe you throw the towel in early. It’s important to win, but you also have to understand, ‘Hey, I want to keep this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here,’ instead of trying to extend everybody’s minutes. Because the season is long, and we don’t want anybody worn out by the end.”
