Knicks' Bridges asks Thibs to help starters by leaning more on bench

New York Knicks veteran forward Mikal Bridges spoke with head coach Tom Thibodeau about giving the bench more minutes in hopes of lessening the burden on the starting five.

"Sometimes it's not fun on the body," Bridges told the New York Post's Stefan Bondy. "You'll want that as a coach but (I) also talked to him a little bit knowing that we've got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in, and we don't need to play 48 (minutes), 47."

Thibodeau is notorious for leaning heavily on his starters during spells in charge of the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves, and now, the Knicks.

Three Knicks players are in the top 10 for minutes played this season, including Bridges, who leads the NBA with 2,420 minutes played. Josh Hart is second (2,307), and injured All-Star Jalen Brunson is 10th (2,162).

Thibodeau's most used starting five - Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Hart, Brunson, and Bridges - also leads the league with 885 minutes played together.

Bridges asserted that New York's bench unit is capable of playing more.

"We've got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes, which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there," Bridges said.

Bridges also suspected Thibodeau might encounter obstacles trying to employ a broader distribution of minutes.

"I think he’s not arguing about it. Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways and he gets locked in. He just wants to keep the guy out there," Bridges continued. "Sometimes you’ve got to tell him, like Landry (Shamet), for example or somebody, keep him out there, they’re playing well."

Thibodeau's bench includes veteran Shamet, Cameron Payne, Precious Achiuwa, Mitchell Robinson, and Miles McBride, who has started the past two games since Brunson suffered a sprained ankle versus the Los Angeles Lakers last week.

Next up for the Knicks is the fourth stop of a five-game road trip Wednesday in Portland.