Maybe Tom Thibodeau is listening to everyone who said he runs his starters into the ground. Whether or not that idea has validity (I think it's a grey area), Thibodeau extended his bench on Thursday night, and the Knicks handled Indiana comfortably to extend the series to at least a Game 6.
Miles McBride played 18 minutes, Delon Wright played 10 minutes and Landry Shamet had his most impactful game of the series in his 14 minutes of action. If you told me that Delon Wright would be getting double-digit minutes in the Eastern Conference Finals this year, I would have said, "Wow, congratulations, Delon," but I would have been really surprised about it.
Will Thibs stick with his bench in Game 6?
This whole situation is kind of a Catch-22 for Thibs. If he plays his starters too much and the Knicks lose, he gets blamed for overworking his key guys. If he plays his bench too much and the Knicks lose, then he gets lambasted for not sticking with the better players. I have empathy for him! He's taken his team to the Eastern Conference Finals and now everyone is calling for his head. He kind of can't win.
But he did win on Thursday, and now he's closer to an NBA Finals appearance than ever before. Granted, "close" in this case still means he has to beat Indiana two more consecutive times, but it's a whole lot closer now than it was 12 hours ago.
I don't know if the bench will play as big a part of Game 6 as it did Game 5; Indiana being back at home will give them a boost and the game (should) be much tighter than Thursday was. I don't think Landry Shamet gets 14 minutes when the game could be swung in far fewer minutes than that.