Precious Achiuwa hasn’t played this season, and that won’t change against Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Achiuwa was ruled out of Friday’s game with the same hamstring strain he suffered in the preseason finale Oct. 18.
In his absence — which will hit at least eight straight games — the Knicks have leaned heavily on Jericho Sims as the lone frontcourt reserve in an eight-man rotation.
That’s been a mixed bag.
Although the Knicks won Sims’ minutes the last two games, he’s been limited offensively with just six shot attempts in 94 total minutes this season.
Achiuwa is more of a power forward than a center and doesn’t set screens as powerful as Sims, but the 25-year-old from Nigeria was the first frontcourt player off the bench until his injury and adds a shotmaking element that’s been missing from the inside.
In the last update from coach Tom Thibodeau earlier this week, Achiuwa was making “steady progress” toward his return but hadn’t been cleared for a full practice.
The original injury announcement said Achiuwa would be evaluated in two to four weeks, which was 2 ½ weeks ago.
He has not been made available to the media.
Achiuwa averaged 9.4 points and 7.2 rebounds in 24.6 minutes over four games in the preseason.
Cam Payne, who also is dealing with a hamstring strain, is listed as questionable for the Bucks game.
He’s missed two games in a row and was replaced in the rotation by rookie Tyler Kolek, who played well in Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks with six points and an assist in nine minutes.
Antetokounmpo was listed as questionable with an adductor strain before playing in Thursday’s Bucks game against the Jazz.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court
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Josh Hart picked up his second technical in as many games for arguing with the refs and acknowledged he needs to chill.
“Yeah, I mean, end of the day, I’ve got to be more composed,” Hart said following Wednesday’s defeat. “First one last game [in Houston], they missed a call and [referee] Tyler Ford came to me and said, ‘I missed that call.’
“Today, I felt like it was the same way. It doesn’t matter the way the game was being officiated. I can’t let that dictate my energy level or my mood. Especially a game like this. It’s a close game. That point is huge. So I’ve got to be better with controlling that and being more composed in those situations.”
Hart was upset in Atlanta that there wasn’t a foul called as he converted a layup through contact. He led the Knicks in techs last season with seven.
After building an identity last season around offensive rebounding, the Knicks were punished on the glass in Atlanta and even gave up a board on a Hawks free throw in a pivotal possession.
“Probably our rebounding,” Thibodeau lamented as the biggest problem down the stretch.
The Knicks, who led the NBA in offensive rebounding last season with nearly 13 per game, lost that battle to the Hawks, 16-7.
A drop in that area was expected after the Knicks essentially swapped Isaiah Hartenstein for Karl-Anthony Towns at center.
“I’ve got to do a better job getting the rebounds, instilling the energy from the start,” Towns said. “We came out sluggish. One of the things I’ve got to always do is instill energy into the game, and I came out sluggish. I take responsibility and accountability for that. These guys work extremely hard. Our guards are working tremendously hard every night with the matchups with the way we are playing defense. I’ve got to do better.”
