Tom Thibodeau relying heavily on Knicks’ dynamic starting-five that’s among NBA’s best

It should come as no surprise by now that the Knicks lead the NBA in minutes played by their dynamic starting five by a considerable margin.

As some would say, why not?

They clearly now are at or near the top among all regular starting units in the league, with all brought to New York by team president Leon Rose over the past three years.

Some fans understandably view this as a legitimate concern about the team’s underutilized bench depth with more than half the season remaining as the calendar flips to 2025 and teams start to prepare for the playoffs.

Still, the sizzling Knicks and coach Tom Thibodeau see it as an absolute strength that their starters have been alternately sharing the scoring load and playing at high levels of efficiency while synergizing on the court together.

Carrying an eight-game winning streak into Wednesday’s home game against the sinking Jazz, the Knicks finished December with a 12-2 mark — yes, albeit mostly against a soft scheduling patch — to improve to 23-10 overall.