Tom Thibodeau was exiled from New York on Tuesday as the Knicks decided to part ways with their coach after five seasons. Thibodeau led the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. So much for a historic season, I guess.
The Knicks front office wasn’t thrilled about the team bowing out to the Indiana Pacers for the second straight season — last year the Knicks fell to Indy in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Not even a win over the defending champion Boston Celtics was enough for the Knicks stick with Thibodeau moving forward.
You could point to a litany of things that cost Thibodeau his job, but the biggest reason had to be his shortcomings against the Pacers. The Knicks had plenty of problems throughout the postseason but it finally caught up to them in the ECF.
Here’s every mistake Thibodeau made that cost him his job in New York.
Tom Thibodeau’s mishandling of the rotation got exposed the entire series
This was a recurring theme that came to a head against the Pacers. If you look back at the Knicks' series against Detroit and Boston, the starters were terrible. The Pistons gave away leads in the fourth quarter twice. Boston did the same.
Against the Pacers, it was the Knicks that were choking away leads — quite literally, if you remember Tyrese Haliburton memorializing Reggie Miller’s famous celebration. The series was lost then and there. Thibodeau refused to make the drastic changes needed to stick with Indiana.
I know it’s not ideal to make significant changes during the postseason, but when you look at the Knicks, their starting lineup had one of the worst net ratings in the postseason. They weren’t a unit that was conducive to winning. Yet Thibodeau stuck to his guns until he couldn’t.
He was called out numerous times, by fans and media alike, before finally making the changes. Not only should he have made the changes earlier, he shouldn’t have put all his faith in the starting unit to begin with. He seldom used his bench and when he did, it felt like it only happened because of outside pressure.
Knicks best defenders had no chance against Pacers offensive attack
The lack of defensive adjustments and versatility was another hindrance for Thibodeau. After all, he was handcuffed in his defensive selections because Mitchell Robinson is an offensive liability.
That’s where his mismanagement came into play. He has to know his team well enough to balance out the offensive-minded players with the guys who are providing more on the other end. He also drew a lot of scrutiny for continuously playing Josh Hart more than necessary, when Miles McBride would have fared better in plenty of instances.
OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are the team's two elite perimeter defenders. They didn’t produce like they did against the Celtics and it’s another reason the Knicks lost the ECF. While that directly isn’t Thibodeau’s fault, he put too much faith in his starters being on the court, and it caused the Knicks lineup to shrink and the team to become more predictable.