Precious Achiuwa hasn't played this season, and the same goes for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Achiuwa was ruled out of Friday's game because of the same hamstring strain he suffered in the final preseason game on Oct. 18.
During his absence, which has been at least eight straight games, the Knicks have relied heavily on Jericho Sims as the only frontcourt reserve in their eight-man rotation.
It was a mixed bag.
Although the Knicks have won the past two games with Sims playing time, his offensive output has been limited this season with just six shot attempts in a total of 94 minutes.
Achiuwa is more of a power forward than a center and doesn't set as strong a screen as Sims, but the 25-year-old from Nigeria was the first frontcourt player to come off the bench until his injury and was the first player on the team to date. Added the missing shot-making element. internal.
An update from coach Tom Thibodeau earlier this week said Achiuwa was making “steady progress” toward his return but had not yet been cleared to practice full time.
The initial injury announcement said Achiuwa would be evaluated in two to four weeks, but that was two and a half weeks ago.
He has not been released to the media.
Achiuwa averaged 9.4 points and 7.2 rebounds in 24.6 minutes in four preseason games.
Cam Payne is also suffering a hamstring injury and is listed as questionable for the Bucks game.
He missed his second straight game and replaced rookie Tyler Kolek in the rotation, but he played nine minutes and had six points and one assist against the Hawks on Wednesday.
Antetokounmpo was listed as questionable with an adductor strain before playing Thursday's game between the Bucks and the Jazz.
Josh Hart received his second technical of the match for an altercation with the referee and admitted he needed to calm down.
“Well, at the end of the day, I have to be more calm,” Hart said after Wednesday's loss. “The first last game [in Houston]they missed the call, and [referee] Tyler Ford came up to me and said, “I missed your call.”
“I felt the same way today. It doesn't matter how the game goes. I can't let that dictate my energy level or my mood, especially in a game like this. It's a close game. It's big. So I have to control it better and be more calm in those situations.”
Hart was upset that a foul was not called for a contact layup against Atlanta. He led the Knicks in Tech last season with seven.
The Knicks, who built their identity last season around offensive rebounding, were punished on the glass in Atlanta, even giving up the board on the Hawks' free throws on key possessions.
“Probably our rebounding,” Thibodeau lamented as the biggest problem after this.
The Knicks, who led the NBA in offensive rebounds last season with nearly 13 per game, lost 16-7 to the Hawks in that battle.
A decline in this area was expected after the Knicks effectively traded centers Isaiah Hartenstein and Karl-Anthony Towns.
“We've got to inject energy from the get-go and do a better job of rebounding,” Towns said. “We started late. One of the things you always have to do is put energy into the game, but we ended up underperforming. I take responsibility and responsibility for that. These guys work very hard. Our guards work very hard every night with the way our defense plays.”
