Knicks’ depth problem comes into full view after rough Thunder loss

CHICAGO — If it’s not a minutes distribution problem, it’s a depth problem. 

And either way, the issue was on full display Friday night in Oklahoma City — not only because the Knicks were overwhelmed down the stretch, but because of the stark contrast to the opponent. 

The Thunder, the NBA’s hottest team, went 10 deep with their rotation and the bench scored 44 points.

The Knicks, meanwhile, used just eight players and managed just five points from their reserves.

Every Knicks starter logged at least 40 minutes in the 117-107 loss to the Thunder — the first time that’s happened for the franchise in the regular season since 2013.

When coach Tom Thibodeau saw his lead dwindle from eight points to two, he called a timeout three minutes into the fourth quarter, reinserted the starters, and rode them the rest of the game. 

“Obviously, we had an eight-point lead going into the fourth. And we know the intensity of the fourth quarter is different. And we’ve got to be ready for that. And we fell short tonight,” Thibodeau said. “And our bench is capable, more than capable. And our starters are more than capable. So we win together, we lose together. And then we just have to refocus and fix what we need to fix.” 

Much of this is predictable and well-documented.

The Knicks exhausted so many resources building an elite starting lineup, they were left cobbling together a bench from second-round rookies, Precious Achiuwa’s Bird Rights and zero cap space.

The upside is the starters are producing even better than expected, hastening their cohesion by logging so much time together on the court. 

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No other five-man lineup in the NBA is even close to the minutes of the Knicks starters.

They also own a plus-5.5 net rating.

The downside is the Knicks aren’t built to withstand injuries — like the strained hamstring to Miles McBride that kept him out of Friday’s loss. 

The Thibodeau detractors, armed with stopwatches to chart playing times, can point to four Knicks being in the top 6 of the NBA’s total minutes.

But the reality is the unused Knicks players Friday night were two second-round picks (Tyler Kolek and Jericho Sims), an in-season journeyman pickup (Matt Ryan) and an undrafted signee (Jacob Toppin). 

Isaiah Hartenstein, the Thunder center, has been on both sides of Friday’s showdown.

He wanted to dispel the notion that Thibodeau overworks his players. 

“A lot of people think with Thibs, you’re practicing every day. You’re not doing that. Most of the time, especially if you’re playing a lot in games, you’re getting off most of the days,” Hartenstein said. “So I think he’s changing in that aspect. 

“Yeah, he’s going to play you a lot in games. But you’re going to get your off days. [Thunder coach Mark Daigneault] is different in that aspect. But we also have a deeper team. So he has the luxury of playing 10 guys.” 

The impact of tired legs is hard to quantify and there were other reasons the Knicks lost to the Thunder. The most obvious is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a bonafide MVP candidate and picked them apart.

Another is they abandoned Karl-Anthony Towns in the fourth quarter — he took just two shots — as Jalen Brunson forced the issue and committed a pair of costly turnovers. 

But also, the Thunder were deeper than the Knicks and fresher down the stretch.

It’s the one disadvantage you can bet they’ll take into other matchups this season against top teams. 

Not that the players will complain about the load. 

“At the end of the day, it don’t matter. Fourth quarter you have to go out there and win the game,” Josh Hart said after his game-high 44 minutes at OKC. “At that point it’s just competitiveness and adrenaline pushing you through, so I’ve always said I want to be out there as much as I can. At that point, we’ve got to make sure we execute.”