The Knicks already have played three sets of back-to-back games during their 5-5 start, winning the opener and losing the tail end each time after falling short Monday night in Boston.
Following Wednesday’s visit to Atlanta to face the Hawks, the Knicks will play again on consecutive nights during their five-game road trip — Friday at Washington and Saturday at Charlotte.
“Another two coming up. It’s crazy,” Julius Randle said. “It’s tough but you can only take things a game at a time. We’ll be fine. We’re built for it. We’ve got guys who are workers, who are warriors. In the end, it’ll always balance out and we’ll be fine.”
Including this weekend, the Knicks have 10 instances of back-to-back games remaining this season.
RJ Barrett has been listed as questionable for Wednesday night after missing Monday’s game in Boston with a migraine.
The Knicks are 0-3 this season in games without Barrett, who is averaging career-highs with 22.6 points and 3.1 assists per game.
He also is shooting 50 percent from 3-point range, a huge improvement from his career mark of 34.3 percent through his first four seasons.
“RJ’s gotten off to a great start, and it just is what it is: It’s a great start,” coach Tom Thibodeau said Monday in Boston about Barrett, who also missed two games earlier this season due to knee soreness. “One of the things I love about him is he’s 23 years old. He’s young. He’s going to keep getting better, building consistency is probably the biggest challenge.
“We’re seeing that now, but understand that there’s still a lot more to go into this and to improve upon. So I don’t want to put a ceiling on anything that he does. I think he can keep getting better and I think he will.”
Knicks nemesis Trae Young missed the Hawks’ road game Tuesday against the Pistons after the birth of his second child with his wife, Shelby, a daughter named Teal Dove Young.