The New York Knicks encountered adversity before and during their Thursday game against the visiting Sacramento Kings.
Persevering for a 120-109 home win hours after learning star Julius Randle would need season-ending surgery on his dislocated right shoulder encouraged coach Tom Thibodeau.
Now the Knicks hope to channel that resilience for the stretch run to the playoffs. New York begins a four-game road trip with a game against the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
“The next guy get in here, get the job done,” Thibodeau said regarding his response to the Randle news. “I’ve said to you guys from the start: We’re not replacing Julius individually. We’re doing it collectively. And that’s one thing that this team has responded extremely well to.”
New York (45-31) stopped a three-game losing streak on Thursday, pulling level with the Orlando Magic for the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference. The Magic have the head-to-head tiebreaker on the Knicks, with both teams three games clear of falling into the conference’s play-in tournament with six games remaining.
Chicago (36-40) has clinched a spot in the East play-in tournament but is vying with the Atlanta Hawks for home-court advantage in a likely matchup between the conference’s Nos. 9 and 10 seeds.
Atlanta (36-41) is a half-game behind Chicago following a 109-95 road loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.
“You always want to play at home,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “I always feel regardless of home court or not, the most important thing is the team’s health. Probably for both of us it’s going to come down to the wire. Those are all things that we probably have to map out organizationally, looking at it.
“Certainly, checking with the players. We still feel we have a lot to play for and the home court is part of it.”
Make no mistake, Bulls leading scorer DeMar DeRozan is on board for prioritizing home-court advantage in the play-in opener over load management.
DeRozan is averaging 37.6 minutes per game, just behind Charlotte’s Miles Bridges (37.8) for the league lead.
“We’re going to fight as long as we can,” DeRozan said. “As long as there’s time on the clock, we’re going to put up a fight no matter, whatever it may be. Guys are extremely resilient on this team, and one thing I know (is) nobody is going to lay down.”
New York has won seven of the past 10 meetings with Chicago, including a 116-100 home victory on Jan. 3. All five Knicks starters scored in double figures in that contest, led by Randall (35 points) and Jalen Brunson (31).
Brunson notched 35 points and 11 assists to boost the Knicks past the Kings on Thursday. Josh Hart scored a season-best 31 points in a game in which New York trailed by 21 points. Hart has adjusted as he deals with a sprained wrist.
“Shooting the ball, I can’t really get the ball to the basket from 3,” he said, “so I gotta just attack and take what the defense gives me.”
The Bulls and Knicks are set to play three times over the final 10 days of the regular season, including the April 14 finale in New York.
