PHILADELPHIA — Isaiah Hartenstein returned to the court Thursday night and emphasized that the main goal of victory was accomplished, but he also left the arena with “a little frustration” over his minutes because they strayed from the ramp-up plan, the center told The Post.
Hartenstein, who missed the previous three games with a sore Achilles, totaled fewer than 11 minutes with zero shots in the 110-96 win over the Sixers.
Hartenstein told The Post he was supposed to hit a 21-minute mark.
It was his first game since aggravating a troublesome sore Achilles on Feb. 8.
“It felt good. It was a little frustrating not to get to my minute requirement. So that was a little frustration,” Hartenstein said. “But still day by day. It felt good. So got to keep building. And hopefully next game, I hit my minute mark.”
Thibodeau played Hartenstein the first six minutes of the first quarter and the opening five minutes of the third.
He was benched for all of the second and fourth quarters.
“From a building-up standpoint, that was the only thing that was a little frustrating. But we won the game,” Hartenstein said.
During his long stretches not in the game, the 25-year-old was on the sideline jumping up and down, trying to stay warm.
“We just have to gradually build it up,” he said. “I think it’ll be hard to go from 10 [minutes] straight to 30. But we’ll see the next couple games.”
The latest aggravation occurred at MSG against the Mavericks, when Hartenstein landed hard after a floater and was stepped on by Dwight Powell.
It was the second time in less than a month that the Achilles pain forced him to miss multiple games.
“It’s something like it gets irritated, it always happens. We’re not scared of it popping,” he said. “So the Knicks do a good job, we test a lot. The strength is there. We’re not scared of it popping or anything like that.”
“I don’t know if y’all ever had tendinitis, it’s kind of like that,” he added.
The Knicks had to fill two roster spots Thursday to satisfy league rules, and they accomplished it by signing two familiar faces from the G-League — Jacob Toppin and DaQuan Jeffries.
Both inked 10-day contracts, giving them five games — counting Thursday in Philly — before they’re either waived or re-signed.
Their deals replace Taj Gibson, who was released after his second 10-day contract expired during the All-Star break.
The Knicks can still bring back Gibson before the playoffs, but the 38-year-old Brooklynite struggled in his past few appearances and missed 11 straight field goals.