The New York Knicks had a good chance to jump to the third seed on Thursday’s visit to Detroit to widen the gap with the red-hot Pacers. Tom Thibodeau’s men entered the Little Caesars Arena after suffering a tough defeat against Boston in overtime. So, the Knicks faithful were hoping that they’d bounce straight back against the Pistons. However, after starting the game strong, New York fell behind in the second half. Eventually falling short against Cade Cunningham and Co., 115-106. No doubt, big man Karl-Anthony Towns had a great game, scoring 25 points along with his 10 rebounds and 5 assists, but that wasn’t enough on the night. While the loss can be blamed on their second-half collapse, there was an underlying detail most of us missed during the game.

Until half-time, the Knicks looked to seal the deal and essentially get a good preview of their first-round opponents. However, they instead played it safe and rested players such as OG Anunoby and Josh Hart. Meanwhile, Mitchell Robinson was also restricted. Worse, Thibodeau played his starters with minute restrictions. That’s something we don’t see every day, right? Well, Thibodeau isn’t a big fan of rotating. You can clearly see that Hart, Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges are all in the top six for the number of minutes played this season. So, what was the reason behind this changed tactic by the Knicks? According to New York Post journalist Stefan Bondy, the Knicks didn’t want the smoke! In other words, they were purposely trying to rest their starters in the hopes of avoiding facing Detroit in the first round.

While on the latest episode of the show ‘Run It Back,‘ Bondy revealed a massive plot twist before tip-off in Detroit. “All of a sudden, the Knicks are looking at a potential matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. So you know, I guess the message is if you’re the if you’re Pistons, you’re looking at like, oh they don’t want this smoke. They could beat us today and secure that first-round match-up against us, but they’re resting their guys.” Bondy stated in the show. Well, it was a mere speculation, but the Knicks, in fact, did go on to lose the game. So, Bondy’s judgment could be correct, taking into account that Knicks HC isn’t exactly known for resting his players quite often. On the other hand, the Pistons have seen a complete turnaround this season and look threatening. So, could the Knicks really be avoiding them?

He further added, “I mean, listen, I don’t know. They are banged up. They played a ton of minutes, so it’s not just playing to the matchup. I’m sure that they’re resting their bodies to get ready for the playoffs, but they do have an opportunity tonight to essentially secure a first-round match-up against the Pistons and then rest some guys.” While it’s a fact that New York’s players do play many more minutes when compared to other top teams, they could’ve done this as a precaution. But before the game, their injury list consisted of just one player. So, it’s hard to wrap your head around this. Meanwhile, tensions between head coach Tom Thibodeau and star Mikal Bridges seem to be settled.

Mikal Bridges and Tom Thibodeau seem to be over their disagreements

Well, this resting tactic might not be an unusual thing happening in the Big Apple. After a recent game against Portland, Knicks player Mikal Bridges claimed that he had asked his head coach, Tom Thibodeau, to reduce his minutes. That’s a completely normal conversation to have, right? Well, it would’ve been only if it had even happened in the first place. In a bizarre turn of events, after Bridges’ statement, Tom Thibodeau not only disagreed with his player but entirely denied that such a conversation even took place. Bridges is the leader in the league in terms of minutes played this season, and he thinks a bit of a breather here and there would be actually really nice.

“Sometimes it’s not fun on the body,” the guard said before hitting the OT winner at the buzzer in a 114-113 win over Portland. “But you want that as a coach, and 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].” It’s a valid concern, especially when your team can afford the luxury, given the depth of this Knicks team. Furthermore, Stefan Bondy followed up on Bridges and asked what Thibodeau’s reaction was. “I followed up and said, ‘What was Tibs’ reaction?’ And he said, ‘Well, you know he wasn’t angry about it, but you know, sometimes he stuck in his ways.'” Bondy stated. Thibodeau is notoriously known for not resting his starters, and he even gets a lot of stick from the media for the same.

While his players have come out and defended their coach, it seems Bridges wanted to back his teammates to clock in a bit more minutes, according to Bondy. “In terms of, you know what underlying meanings he had. I do know that he is close with two guys on the bench.  Cameron Payne and Landry Shamet from their time together in Phoenix. So, it’s entirely possible that this wasn’t a critique on Tibs. It was just him lobbying for his bench guys to get more playing time.” Bondy stated. Well, that could’ve been a reason why he approached Thibodeau in the first place. However, it seems the dust has settled on this matter. “But since then, you know, everything seems to be fine, um, and it hasn’t been brought up again, to be honest,” the NYP journalist added. So, it appears that Bridges and his head coach have made up, and everything is fine in the locker room.