The Knicks have entered a perilous period of their season. In the race for one of the top six seeds in the Eastern Conference to guarantee a playoff spot and avoid the NBA play-in tournament that is composed of the 7 to 10 seeds, the Knicks began a four-game, six-day Western Conference road trip last night (Wednesday) facing the Utah Jazz.
They will also play the Phoenix Suns (tomorrow), Los Angeles Clippers (Saturday) and Los Angeles Lakers (Monday), before returning to New York to meet the Brooklyn Nets next Wednesday at the Barclays Center. After that, the Knicks will have two straight match ups at Madison Square Garden on December 23 and Christmas Day versus the Milwaukee Bucks.
It’s still early in the season, with a little over 25% of games played, but a review of the standings reveals a highly competitive race in both the Eastern and Western Conferences that will likely remain tight over the next four months until the closing days of the regular season. The Knicks were 13-9 and the No. 6 seed prior to playing the Jazz. But they went into the game without starting center Mitchell Robinson and he’ll be sidelined for the next 8-10 weeks recovering from ankle surgery.
The 25-year-old 7-foot center injured his left ankle in the first half of the Knicks’ 133-123 loss to the Boston Celtics on the road last Friday. In this his sixth season in the league after being drafted by the Knicks in the second round (36th) in 2018, Robinson has emerged as one of the league’s best defenders and statistically the best offensive rebounder averaging 5.3 per game and 10.3 overall.
“It’s hard when you lose a player like Mitch, but you don’t replace him with one guy,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau prior to Monday’s 136-130 win over the Toronto Raptors at the Garden.
“You replace him with everybody. That’s the way we’re approaching it. We feel strongly that we have more than enough. … We’re capable of playing great team defense. We’ve been an outstanding rebounding team the entire year.”
Thibodeau has inserted Jericho Sims, a 2021 second round selection (58th) into the starting lineup and kept Isaiah Hartenstein as a key reserve to maintain continuity.
However, the veteran coach began having guard Quentin Grimes come off the bench last Friday in Boston due to Grimes’ offensive struggles; Donte DiVincenzo is now with the first unit.
Grimes responded to the challenge on Monday by scoring a season high 19 points against the Raptors.
Heading into last night’s game versus the Jazz, for the season, the 6-foot-5-inch, 23-year-old Grimes, the Knicks’ best perimeter defender, was averaging 6.9 points on just 39.5 % shooting in part due to his limited touches. He was only putting up 6.2 shots per game compared to 8.5 last season.
“You’re making a great point about Quentin,” said Thibodeau to reporters on Monday regarding Grimes’ assertive offensive performance against the Raptors.
“Quentin’s playing terrific. He’s just playing. He’s aggressive, and he’s making real good decisions, he’s shooting when he’s open, he’s making plays when he’s guarded, he’s playing great defense. Our whole bench unit; I’m very, very pleased with how they’re playing.
“Deuce [McBride] filled in and did a terrific job and Isaiah is playing with both groups and Josh plays with both groups and you add Quentin and RJ [Barrett] playing with both groups and RJ had a really strong game as well. You need everybody, we’ve got to get everyone playing well together to bring the best out in each other and if we do that, we’ll have a good chance to win.”