Tom Thibodeau has faced criticism for playing his starters too much. Mikal Bridges' comments on the matter caused a stir.

I f there's one thing we know about a Tom Thibodeau-coached team it's that he's going to play his starters a ton of minutes. He's been known to run with short rotations, relying h

New York Knicks star forward Mikal Bridges made an odd request to his head coach, Tom Thibodeau. Bridges told Thibodeau to 'back off' a bit in the starters' minutes because the bench deserves more. Stefan Bondy of the New York Post shared in his column on Wednesday.

New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has always been known for relying on his starters and primary players for heavy minutes even during the regular season, but swingman Mikal Bridges asked him to reduce some of that playing time heading into the stretch run.

In more minutes than usual thanks to another overtime, Mikal Bridges scored more than anybody on the Knicks and hit the biggest shot of his Knicks career. With his pregame comments of Tom Thibodeau’s minutes distribution as the backdrop — specifically that he wanted less so that New York’s reserves could get more opportunities — Bridges became the hero of Wednesday’s 114-113 thrilling victory over the Blazers.

New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau gave a swift response to a report on Mikal Bridges’ minutes request. The Knicks’ starting small forward made an eye-opening statement on the strain the starters have been under for most of the season.