Knicks forward Julius Randle stands with head coach Tom Thibodeau...

Knicks forward Julius Randle stands with head coach Tom Thibodeau in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the LA Clippers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

When Julius Randle returned home from his whirlwind All-Star Weekend, he hardly got a chance to catch his breath before logging 36 minutes and carrying the Knicks on his shoulders to a comeback win in Washington on Friday. His time on the court secured him second place in the NBA in minutes played this season and provided bait to the critics who want the Knicks to roll through this final stretch run of the season but not lose players and production to fatigue.

While the NBA wrestles with the load management problem, the Knicks have ignored that issue when it comes to game time. Randle is second only to Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards in total minutes played and Jalen Brunson ranks 10th in the league.

But before the critics jump on coach Tom Thibodeau, consider this: What you see in that minutes played category does not tell the total picture. It is that total picture that has allowed the Knicks to not only carry a surprising 34-27 record into Saturday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans — the second half of a back-to-back set — but not give any thought to sitting out any of the key pieces.

While NBA commissioner Adam Silver had no answers during All-Star Weekend about how to solve the problem of fans paying huge prices and often finding the stars they are hoping to see sitting out in street clothes, the Knicks have managed to get through this with two players — Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein — playing every game. Brunson, RJ Barrett and Quentin Grimes have sat out only when injuries couldn’t be worked through. The rest comes behind closed doors.

“You prepare yourself for whatever you’re facing,” Thibodeau said. “You have to be in great shape to play well in this league. If you have a young team — the development of your team is important and the only way to get better is working and practicing. If you’re an older team and you’re trying to avoid injuries, maybe you’re sitting those guys more. Sometimes it’s a combination of both.

“There’s a lot of different ways you can pace your team. Somehow the notion of looking at a boxscore and regurgitating numbers, I can see if somebody is playing 36 minutes or 34 minutes or whatever minutes there are. But you don’t know what the guy has done the day before, you don’t know what he did at shootaround, you don’t know if he has a sub in practice. You don’t know any of those things.

“My thing is — what’s the data say about injuries? Somebody showed me a stat of the guys who played all 82 10 years ago. There are more injuries today than ever. Some of it can be attributed to luck. But I think conditioning is important. Discipline is important. And every team is different. You have an older team, younger team, what do you have? And your experience tells you a lot too. And oftentimes you have guys who aren’t going to sit out. You can try to hold them out. They don’t want to sit out. It’s the reason they’re great.”

After his 36-minute, 46-point effort Friday, Randle smiled when asked if he was well-rested, replying, “Sure.” He was first in the NBA in total minutes and minutes per game two seasons ago, when he earned second-team All-NBA honors, and has shown no inclination to sit down the stretch.

Edwards was asked about the load management issue at All-Star media day and didn’t hide his feelings, echoing statements from Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio decades earlier.

“If there’s anything I could change anything about the league to make it better, probably just all the guys sitting and resting,” Edwards said. “That’s the only thing I probably don’t like. Just play, man. If [you’re] 80%, you’ve got to play. I don’t like all the sitting, missing games.

“These people might have enough money to come to one game, you know what I’m saying? That might be the game they come to and you sitting out? I’m trying to take pride in playing every game. It might be one fan that has never seen me play, and I’m trying to play.”

Thibodeau is on board with Edwards. “Respect for the game,” he said. “I know Patrick [Ewing] was like that. Kevin Garnett was like that. A lot of guys were like that. Preseason game, they might not play a whole game, but they’re going to play some. And if a guy is injured, you don’t want him to play. That’s being smart.

“If you’re playing pro sports, you’re going to be nicked up. That’s for sure. Being able to play through something, that’s part of it. When you get to the playoffs, if you haven’t done it, how are you going to do it then?”

End of the bench

The Knicks have gone to a nine-man rotation as they have come together as a team this season, and that has meant that even players who have been key contributors such as Deuce McBride and Jericho Sims have found themselves with “DNP-coaches decision’’ next to their name in the boxscore lately.

So that might make it seem like unnecessary moves as they work around the fringes of the roster. But rules are rules, and the Knicks were down to 13 players under contract after the trade for Josh Hart that sent out three players — Cam Reddish, Ryan Arcidiacono and Svi Mykhailiuk. So they had to add at least one player by Thursday, and they accomplished that by shifting rookie Trevor Keels from a two-way contract to a 10-day contract.

Keels didn’t get in Friday’s game and was assigned on Saturday to Westchester, where he has spent the whole season.

Arcidiacono, by the way, got his first start in three years Thursday with Portland. The Trail Blazers were without Damian Lillard (rest) after Portland had flight problems with the snowstorm that grounded the team.

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