There might not be another team in the NBA that needs a week off more than the Knicks, who literally and figuratively are limping into the All-Star break.
Tom Thibodeau’s team could be down four starters in its final game before the needed respite, with shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game in Orlando with a strained right hamstring suffered in Monday’s last-second loss in Houston — their fourth defeat in their past five games.
Fill-in starting center Isaiah Hartenstein also has been listed as questionable against the Magic after missing the past two games because of recurring left Achilles soreness.
The Knicks. who won’t play again until next Thursday in Philadelphia, also have been without Mitchell Robinson since he underwent December ankle surgery, and forwards Julius Randle (dislocated shoulder) and OG Anunoby (elbow surgery).
Wednesday’s game will mark the ninth game for the Knicks since that duo last played Jan. 27.
Jalen Brunson and the Knicks have to quickly put behind them their last-second loss to the Rockets, when the All-Star point guard was whistled by referee Jacyn Goble for a phantom foul with 0.3 seconds remaining in regulation in a tie game.
The Knicks (33-21) lost on Aaron Holiday’s ensuing free throws, and crew chief Ed Malloy admitted after the game that the refs had blown the call.
“If you’re a Knick fan, it was a blown call. I’ll leave it at that,” TNT analyst Kenny Smith said on a Zoom call Tuesday. “But it’s one game and you got 82, and in the playoffs, we’re not gonna remember this night. I think that overall, our referees do a great job, and while we have all of the technology to replay it, those things are gonna happen.
“I had a game where we lost and didn’t get into the NBA playoffs because it was a goaltending call on the last play of the last game of the season. So I don’t have any sympathy for guys like that. … It’s one game, we move beyond the one game and talk about the future.”
Asked by The Post about the Knicks’ future and the importance of getting healthier as they move past the All-Star break, Smith praised Brunson for helping “close the gap” with the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
“I always used to look at him [in high school] and go, he doesn’t look the part, but he’s always winning. And then he got to college [at Villanova], and I’m like he doesn’t look the part, but he’s always winning. And then he got to the NBA, and I just stopped saying that,” Smith said. “The guy just affects winning. … So I think that where the Knicks have probably changed my opinion of them is the fact that now they’ve closed the gap between having the best player on the floor on different nights.”
The shorthanded Knicks probably will need another big night out of Brunson to win Wednesday in Orlando, especially if DiVincenzo sits for the first time this season.
He remained in Monday’s game briefly after being shown on TV during a fourth-quarter timeout telling someone on the bench that he injured “my hamstring.”
DiVincenzo, who pulled himself from the game about a minute later, has averaged 26.5 points and 5.3 made 3-pointers over 40.4 minutes per game in his past eight appearances.
One of the players acquired in the Knicks’ recent trade with the Pistons — Bojan Bogdanovic or Alec Burks — likely would start if DiVincenzo is unable to play.