If there's one thing we know about a Tom Thibodeau-coached team it's that he's going to play his starters a ton of minutes. He's been known to run with short rotations, relying heavily upon his starters to the point where there tends to be criticism about overworking his stars.

Mikal Bridges played 41 minutes Wednesday night in Portland, and he wouldn't want to give one of those seconds back because he did this during the final play of the game. Still, 41 minutes is a lot, and it's not just this game.

Things started awkwardly between the Knicks starter and coach, and then ended with Bridges hitting the game-winner in overtime vs. Portland.

New York Knicks star forward Mikal Bridges made an odd request to his head coach, Tom Thibodeau. Bridges told Thibodeau to 'back off' a bit in the starters' minutes because the bench deserves more. Stefan Bondy of the New York Post shared in his column on Wednesday.

New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has always been known for relying on his starters and primary players for heavy minutes even during the regular season, but swingman Mikal Bridges asked him to reduce some of that playing time heading into the stretch run.