NEXT MAN UP: Knicks built to survive latest rash of injuries in playoffs

First it was Mitchell Robinson.

Then it was Julius Randle and OG Anunoby at the same time.

Next it was Isaiah Hartenstein.

Then Anunoby returned, only to go down again.

Randle’s season ended shortly after via a setback to his dislocated right shoulder.

Bojan Bogdanovic’s season ended in the first round of the playoffs, too.

Now, it’s Robinson, whose season is virtually over with a second stress reaction in his left ankle this season.

The blows keep coming.

What else is new?

It’s more of the same at Madison Square Garden, and it’s why the Knicks — amid a playoff run they hope stretches to the Eastern Conference Finals (or further) — aren’t fazed by an injury report worsening by the week.

The 2024 Knicks aren’t immune to the injury bug — quite the opposite, actually — but they don’t have time to feel sorry for themselves.

It’s next man up, just like it’s been all season for a team attempting to solve a playoff puzzle despite missing key pieces.

“That’s been our challenge all season,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said ahead of tipoff against the Pacers in Game 2 on Wednesday. “So obviously Precious [Achiuwa] and Jericho [Sims] are available and they’ve filled in before and they’ve done a great job. So next man, get in there and get the job done.”

Hartenstein gives the credit to Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose.

After all, it was Rose who orchestrated the deal that sent Immanuel Quickley and R.J. Barrett to the Toronto Raptors for Anunoby and Achiuwa. And it was Rose, when the injuries began to pile ahead of the Feb. 8 NBA Trade Deadline, who pulled off another in-season trade, shuttling Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Ryan Arcidiacono, Malachi Flynn and a pair of second-round picks to the Detroit Pistons for Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.

The Knicks also signed playoff-tested veteran guard Shake Milton for the playoff run.

Robinson went down, but the Knicks have two viable options in Achiuwa and Sims to fill in minutes behind Hartenstein. Burks and Milton are also on the roster in case of emergency, but Thibodeau has played neither in the playoffs.

Despite the injuries piling, Hartenstein said it doesn’t feel like the team is running out of players to step up.

“Nah. I think first of all you have to give a lot of respect to Leon. A lot of organizations maybe wouldn’t have the opportunity to have a next man, a next man, a next man, a next man,” the starting Knicks center said at his locker ahead of tipoff on Wednesday. “I think you have to give a lot of respect for building a team where you can still do that. Just the players in our locker room, Thibs, we’re always in the present moment, whatever we have, we have at that point. So that’s how we look at it.”

It helps that the Knicks start four players in Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby who are prepared to log heavy minutes for their team every night.

Hart and Brunson rank first and second in total playoff minutes logged. Anunoby ranks fifth and both DiVincenzo and Hartenstein rank top-50.

Hart played all 48 minutes of the Game 1 victory over the Pacers on Monday.

“I personally don’t think about it too much,” he said of his minutes load ahead of tipoff on Wednesday. “That’s now what I do. I go out there and play the game the way I’ve been taught, pray for protection before every game and I just put everything in God’s hands.”

While the minutes distribution isn’t on Hart’s mind, it’s the growing focus of a national spotlight featuring the Knicks and their improbable pursuit of their deepest postseason run since 2000.

Thibodeau, for example, didn’t bump Burks up a spot in the rotation when Bogdanovic went down with an ankle injury in the first round against the 76ers. His answer, instead, was more Hart and Anunoby — and more Brunson. Only Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell has played more minutes than the three aforementioned Knicks starters since Bogdanovic’s injury.

The concern is real. Players run out of gas in deep playoff runs every season.

Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t believe the Knicks players are running on empty any time soon.

“They have their way of playing and their style. They’ve really been consistent with it for a number of months now. And so, it’s more important that we focus on the things that we need to do,” Carlisle said ahead of tipoff on Wednesday. “We play nine or 10 guys. Usually last year we played eight or nine guys. We got to play our game better than they play their game.

“But to think that they’re just going to all of a sudden get tired? I mean, that’s, that’s really not a logical way of thinking. So we just, in this game, we’ve got to do more and be better than we were in the first game, you know? Really just everyone straight on down the line.”