Rotation Watch: Who's Playing, Who's Not Through Two Games

Quick answer: Mike Brown has started the same five both games: Brunson, Bridges, Hart, OG and Cat. He used 10 players in the opener and 11 in Boston. The big moves came off the bench: Deuce McBride jumped from 13:30 to 30:05, Andre Drummond dropped from 24:27 to 7:06, and Tyler Kolek, Mohamed Diawara and Pacôme Dadiet were DNP-Coach's Decision both nights.

Key stats (minutes, two games)

• Brunson: 71:20 total (34:06 and 37:14)
• Hart: 66:18 (30:16, 36:02)
• OG: 65:10 (31:35, 33:35)
• Cat: 60:49 (23:33, 37:16)
• Bridges: 54:56 (33:03, 21:53), 2-of-16 shooting
• Shamet: 45:44 (24:32, 21:12), the team's best plus-minus in both games (+11, +7)
• McBride: 43:35 (13:30, 30:05), 20 points on 6-of-8 threes in Boston
• Drummond: 31:33 (24:27, 7:06)
• Alvarado: 27:16 (16:30, 10:46)
• Clarkson: 11:17 (8:29, 2:48)
• Wiseman: 2:04 (DNP, then 2:04)
• No minutes yet: Kolek, Diawara, Dadiet (DNP-CD twice). McCullar was DNP-CD, then inactive. Akins and Nickel were inactive both games.

Why I care about minutes

I've been watching this team since the '80s, and I've learned to ignore what coaches say in October and watch who's on the floor. Minutes are the truth. Two games is a small sample, but Brown is already telling us a lot.

The starting five is locked

Same five both nights, and they're carrying a big load. Brunson is at 71 minutes in two games, and Hart and OG are both over 65.

The number I care most about is Cat's. In the opener, foul trouble held him to 23:33, and per the NY Post just six of those minutes came in the first half. Brown called it out: "KAT: You're a freaking perennial All-Star. So just make the bucket, and if he happens to foul you, then great."

In Boston he played 37:16 and went 9-of-13 for 22. That's what the five-out look is supposed to be: Cat at center, spacing the floor and punishing bigs. I want that on the floor as much as possible.

Bridges and OG: keep them together

Mikal's minutes dropped from 33:03 to 21:53 in Boston, where he went 0-of-8. He's 2-of-16 through two games. Brown's take: "He's getting the looks that he needs to get, he's just gotta knock them down now."

I'm not worried about the role. Mikal and OG together on the wings is the pairing I want all season, and OG just went for 20, 10 and 8 in Boston. Mikal's shots will come. Cutting his minutes for long would be a mistake.

The bench: Deuce up, Drummond down

Deuce McBride is the story. He more than doubled his minutes, from 13:30 to 30:05, and dropped 20 on 6-of-8 from three. When a guy shoots like that, he plays.

Drummond went the other way. He was great in the opener, with 12 points and 14 rebounds in 24:27, but Brown admitted he overdid it: "We probably ran him too long because it looked like in the second half... he ran out of a little bit of gas. I gotta keep getting to know him to see where the minutes may lie for him to be effective." In Boston, with Cat out of foul trouble, Drummond played just 7:06.

Honestly, I'm fine with that, because more Cat at the five means more five-out. But it comes with a cost, and I see it through my paint-vs-threes lens. In Boston the Knicks hit 16 threes but lost the paint 38-30, and Queta blocked more shots (3) than our whole team (2). We need a big who can win some of those paint minutes without killing the spacing.

Landry Shamet is the quiet one. He's over 21 minutes both nights and posted the Knicks' best plus-minus in each game (+11 vs. Philly, +7 at Boston). That doesn't make headlines, but it keeps you in the rotation.

Alvarado and Clarkson both trended down in Boston. Alvarado went from 16:30 to 10:46 with three turnovers, and Clarkson from 8:29 to 2:48.

Who's not playing, and the size question

• Tyler Kolek: DNP-CD in both games
• Mohamed Diawara: DNP-CD in both games
• Pacôme Dadiet: DNP-CD in both games
• Kevin McCullar Jr.: DNP-CD in the opener, inactive in Boston
• Jaden Akins and Tyler Nickel: inactive in both (listed as G League two-way for the opener)

Kolek stands out because we wrote a whole preseason post on his rim pressure. Right now there just aren't backcourt minutes behind McBride, Alvarado and Shamet.

This is where my size soapbox comes in. Tatum's first two late daggers Friday came against Hart. I've said it before: this team needs more size on the wings and at guard. Diawara is a wing who hasn't played a minute yet. I'd like to see Brown at least test a bigger look before the guard-heavy bench becomes a habit.

What I'm watching Sunday vs. Orlando

• Does Cat stay out of foul trouble? If he does, Drummond's minutes probably stay small.
• Does Deuce stay near 30 minutes?
• Does Mikal get going? On Friday the Magic held Minnesota's Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball to a combined 9-of-36.
• Does anyone from the DNP group finally get real minutes?

Tip is 7:00 PM ET (6:00 PM CT) at the Garden, on MSGN/DAZN. For the full breakdown of Friday's loss, read this morning's Morning After: https://knicks365.com/blog/knicks-celtics-recap-tatum-clutch-0-2-start

Cover photo: Jalen Brunson. Photo: Erik Drost / CC BY 2.0 (cropped), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jalen_Brunson.jpg (license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)