Thibs needs to go

[Stannis]

Who do the Knicks even hire if they fire Thibs?

usually teams hire someone who is the complete opposite of the coach they just fired

Return of MDA?

[The KnicksFix]

‘Bout to do this if Thibs back next year…

Watch on YouTube

[Nostrand Ave]

Say what you want but Thibs made the right adjustments. *shrugs*

Should've did this sooner though.

[Woodsanity]

He finally made the needed adjustments. Should have done it a game sooner but at least he made them....

[knickabocker88]

Say what you want but Thibs made the right adjustments. *shrugs*

Should've did this sooner though.

Foul trouble forced him.

Hes stubborn

[knicks94]

Thibs cannot continue depending on these miracle wins, especially if they have to face a team like OKC who could easily blow them out by 40.

[HopelessKnick]

Isn't it kind of funny how the Knicks' defense was much much better the second half? Any chance it had something to do with going deep and playing multiple guys off the bench? I said it in like multiple posts---there is no real reason not to play Wright and Shamet. The Pacers aren't that much deeper per se, their 8-10 guys just get way more opportunities.

Essentially all the "adjustments" Thibs made were things we critics have been screaming for the entire season and Thibs consistantly refused to do them. Although foul trouble had a big hand in why he played so many guys off the bench. I don't even care about the outcome of this series, I just want him gone. You put a guy like Carlisle on the Knicks and Thibs on the Pacers and we are already discussing finals matchups (although the Pacers with Thibs don't even make it this far). I didn't even find the game particularly encouraging, we hit a bunch of difficult, contested 3 point shots which we are unlikely to repeat. If you look at the game, the Pacers create many more open looks and their offense looks organic for most of the time. For us everything seems to be a struggle.


Carlisle won't lose to a clearly inferior Thibs 3 more times. Absolutely no way whatsoever.

[HopelessKnick]

Losing in the ECF to a less talented Pacer team is sad but there are three positive things that will come out of it:

1)When you lose twice in a row to the same team then in the NBA most FOs don't feel inclined to come back with the same coach and roster the next season. For guys that want Thibs gone, a loss to the Pacers may just seal the deal in that regard. Thibs would be much more unlikely to return once the Pacers have eliminated us.

2)Again what others and I noted many many times throughout---winning with two defensive liabilities in the playoffs is difficult. I think the unfolding of this series makes a Giannis trade much much more likely. At least the Knicks would be more motivated to make a trade.

3) OKC and the Wolves are the better teams. Yes, making the finals is better than getting eliminated in the ECF but in the end taken everything together, we wouldn't have beat either west coast team so if ultimately a loss in the ECF is going to get Thibs fired and Giannis here----it will overall be a positive for the next year. Much better than making the finals, getting destroyed by OKC or the Wolves and coming back with the same coach and team.

[HarthorneWingo]

Who do the Knicks even hire if they fire Thibs?

usually teams hire someone who is the complete opposite of the coach they just fired

Return of MDA?

They would make a great two-headed monster.

TBH, there’s no one out there who’s a meaningful improvement over Thibs. Malone is a Thibs clone. Bottom line is that you don’t change coaches unless they’ve lost the locker room. And that hasn’t happened here yet.

[HopelessKnick]

usually teams hire someone who is the complete opposite of the coach they just fired

Return of MDA?

They would make a great two-headed monster.

TBH, there’s no one out there who’s a meaningful improvement over Thibs. Malone is a Thibs clone. Bottom line is that you don’t change coaches unless they’ve lost the locker room. And that hasn’t happened here yet.

He may not have lost the locker room but the players are certainly not 100% committed to him either. Bridges would never have made those comments if he didn't feel a good portion of the team was in support of his comments. You can bank on that. Do you really want to go into next season with a --at best--divided locker room?

I think you have to look unemotionally and objectively at the entire season and especially playoffs. We have played 15 playoff games so far in the playoffs and you'll struggle to find 3 games where we truly outplayed the other team.

If you leave aside all the emotions and bs then we really did not outplay the Pistons even in a single game--a clearly inferior team talentwise, especially without Ivey and Stewart. We were actually like trailing a lot of the time and all games were close. If we were down 0-2 or 3-1 to start the series we really couldn't have complained at all.

Then the Boston series happens and the script is kind of flipped. But again---did we truly outplay them? You don't want to take too much away from the team and how they competed but IMO our postseason success came down to some spectacular individual play along with a bit of luck and no injuries. Nothing schematically, nothing coachingswise where you were thinking "Wow. Great move."

Now the Pacers are certainly a good team but again---aren't we talentwise better? I would say we are and again we find ourselves in a position where it does not translate on the court. The offense uncreative, struggling, with close to zero flow. Not all is on Thibs but he certainly has not made this team better at all. The Pacers are creating tons of open looks and making things tough for Brunson. That's as much as you can ask of a coach.

[HarthorneWingo]

Return of MDA?

They would make a great two-headed monster.

TBH, there’s no one out there who’s a meaningful improvement over Thibs. Malone is a Thibs clone. Bottom line is that you don’t change coaches unless they’ve lost the locker room. And that hasn’t happened here yet.

He may not have lost the locker room but the players are certainly not 100% committed to him either. Bridges would never have made those comments if he didn't feel a good portion of the team was in support of his comments. You can bank on that. Do you really want to go into next season with a --at best--divided locker room?

I think you have to look unemotionally and objectively at the entire season and especially playoffs. We have played 15 playoff games so far in the playoffs and you'll struggle to find 3 games where we truly outplayed the other team.

If you leave aside all the emotions and bs then we really did not outplay the Pistons even in a single game--a clearly inferior team talentwise, especially without Ivey and Stewart. We were actually like trailing a lot of the time and all games were close. If we were down 0-2 or 3-1 to start the series we really couldn't have complained at all.

Then the Boston series happens and the script is kind of flipped. But again---did we truly outplay them? You don't want to take too much away from the team and how they competed but IMO our postseason success came down to some spectacular individual play along with a bit of luck and no injuries. Nothing schematically, nothing coachingswise where you were thinking "Wow. Great move."

Now the Pacers are certainly a good team but again---aren't we talentwise better? I would say we are and again we find ourselves in a position where it does not translate on the court. The offense uncreative, struggling, with close to zero flow. Not all is on Thibs but he certainly has not made this team better at all. The Pacers are creating tons of open looks and making things tough for Brunson. That's as much as you can ask of a coach.

Bridges is the only one that kinda complained and he’s still playing huge minutes. So I don’t pay much attention to that.

There isn’t any head coach out there who the Knicks fan won’t complaint about.

[HopelessKnick]

They would make a great two-headed monster.

TBH, there’s no one out there who’s a meaningful improvement over Thibs. Malone is a Thibs clone. Bottom line is that you don’t change coaches unless they’ve lost the locker room. And that hasn’t happened here yet.

He may not have lost the locker room but the players are certainly not 100% committed to him either. Bridges would never have made those comments if he didn't feel a good portion of the team was in support of his comments. You can bank on that. Do you really want to go into next season with a --at best--divided locker room?

I think you have to look unemotionally and objectively at the entire season and especially playoffs. We have played 15 playoff games so far in the playoffs and you'll struggle to find 3 games where we truly outplayed the other team.

If you leave aside all the emotions and bs then we really did not outplay the Pistons even in a single game--a clearly inferior team talentwise, especially without Ivey and Stewart. We were actually like trailing a lot of the time and all games were close. If we were down 0-2 or 3-1 to start the series we really couldn't have complained at all.

Then the Boston series happens and the script is kind of flipped. But again---did we truly outplay them? You don't want to take too much away from the team and how they competed but IMO our postseason success came down to some spectacular individual play along with a bit of luck and no injuries. Nothing schematically, nothing coachingswise where you were thinking "Wow. Great move."

Now the Pacers are certainly a good team but again---aren't we talentwise better? I would say we are and again we find ourselves in a position where it does not translate on the court. The offense uncreative, struggling, with close to zero flow. Not all is on Thibs but he certainly has not made this team better at all. The Pacers are creating tons of open looks and making things tough for Brunson. That's as much as you can ask of a coach.

Ridges is the only one that kinda complained and he’s still playing huge minutes. So I don’t pay much attention to that.

There isn’t any head coach out there who the Knicks fan won’t complaint about.

I think Bridges was easily speaking for a lot of guys on the roster. Think of it this way: If you are not among the top 7 on the roster, why would you support Thibs, knowing that you will barely get a chance to play? You know many NBA teams go 9-11 man deep in their rotations in the regular season but Thibs does not. The outcome of Thibs super short rotations must be discontent for anyone out side the top 7 or 8. It is just a natural outcome. No matter what, say as a 9th man you are not going to be happy about not playing. Just the nature of human psyche. You will compare and see other teams going super deep and you'll feel you could have contributed somewhere but are stuck instead in NY playing close to no role while all the starters are in the top 20 of minutes or close to it. That type of team management is bound to fail longterm.

BTW let me reiterate this: Here in Germany last season, prior to the Mitch injury there was already a lot of talk about Hartenstein being super discontented with Thibs and his stint in NY and that he was close to certain to leave in the offseason. Just think about it....Thibs had buried a top 10 Center on the bench, playing 15 minutes a game prior to Mitch's injury....

[HarthorneWingo]

He may not have lost the locker room but the players are certainly not 100% committed to him either. Bridges would never have made those comments if he didn't feel a good portion of the team was in support of his comments. You can bank on that. Do you really want to go into next season with a --at best--divided locker room?

I think you have to look unemotionally and objectively at the entire season and especially playoffs. We have played 15 playoff games so far in the playoffs and you'll struggle to find 3 games where we truly outplayed the other team.

If you leave aside all the emotions and bs then we really did not outplay the Pistons even in a single game--a clearly inferior team talentwise, especially without Ivey and Stewart. We were actually like trailing a lot of the time and all games were close. If we were down 0-2 or 3-1 to start the series we really couldn't have complained at all.

Then the Boston series happens and the script is kind of flipped. But again---did we truly outplay them? You don't want to take too much away from the team and how they competed but IMO our postseason success came down to some spectacular individual play along with a bit of luck and no injuries. Nothing schematically, nothing coachingswise where you were thinking "Wow. Great move."

Now the Pacers are certainly a good team but again---aren't we talentwise better? I would say we are and again we find ourselves in a position where it does not translate on the court. The offense uncreative, struggling, with close to zero flow. Not all is on Thibs but he certainly has not made this team better at all. The Pacers are creating tons of open looks and making things tough for Brunson. That's as much as you can ask of a coach.

Ridges is the only one that kinda complained and he’s still playing huge minutes. So I don’t pay much attention to that.

There isn’t any head coach out there who the Knicks fan won’t complaint about.

I think Bridges was easily speaking for a lot of guys on the roster. Think of it this way: If you are not among the top 7 on the roster, why would you support Thibs, knowing that you will barely get a chance to play? You know many NBA teams go 9-11 man deep in their rotations in the regular season but Thibs does not. The outcome of Thibs super short rotations must be discontent for anyone out side the top 7 or 8. It is just a natural outcome. No matter what, say as a 9th man you are not going to be happy about not playing. Just the nature of human psyche. You will compare and see other teams going super deep and you'll feel you could have contributed somewhere but are stuck instead in NY playing close to no role while all the starters are in the top 20 of minutes or close to it. That type of team management is bound to fail longterm.

BTW let me reiterate this: Here in Germany last season, prior to the Mitch injury there was already a lot of talk about Hartenstein being super discontented with Thibs and his stint in NY and that he was close to certain to leave in the offseason. Just think about it....Thibs had buried a top 10 Center on the bench, playing 15 minutes a game prior to Mitch's injury....

Well, we just signed Thibs to a contract extension so he’s not going anywhere especially given that we’re in the ECF.

[Spot31]

Thibs cannot continue depending on these miracle wins, especially if they have to face a team like OKC who could easily blow them out by 40.

I thought OKC just got blown out by 40 plus points.

[Kidknick!]

Isn't it kind of funny how the Knicks' defense was much much better the second half? Any chance it had something to do with going deep and playing multiple guys off the bench? I said it in like multiple posts---there is no real reason not to play Wright and Shamet. The Pacers aren't that much deeper per se, their 8-10 guys just get way more opportunities.

Essentially all the "adjustments" Thibs made were things we critics have been screaming for the entire season and Thibs consistantly refused to do them. Although foul trouble had a big hand in why he played so many guys off the bench. I don't even care about the outcome of this series, I just want him gone. You put a guy like Carlisle on the Knicks and Thibs on the Pacers and we are already discussing finals matchups (although the Pacers with Thibs don't even make it this far). I didn't even find the game particularly encouraging, we hit a bunch of difficult, contested 3 point shots which we are unlikely to repeat. If you look at the game, the Pacers create many more open looks and their offense looks organic for most of the time. For us everything seems to be a struggle.


Carlisle won't lose to a clearly inferior Thibs 3 more times. Absolutely no way whatsoever.

And how much of these substitutions were made out of spite?? He is still awful.

[Kampuchea]

What’s that? Thibs masterclass in lineup adjustments to save the season? We’re back in this.

[HopelessKnick]

Ridges is the only one that kinda complained and he’s still playing huge minutes. So I don’t pay much attention to that.

There isn’t any head coach out there who the Knicks fan won’t complaint about.

I think Bridges was easily speaking for a lot of guys on the roster. Think of it this way: If you are not among the top 7 on the roster, why would you support Thibs, knowing that you will barely get a chance to play? You know many NBA teams go 9-11 man deep in their rotations in the regular season but Thibs does not. The outcome of Thibs super short rotations must be discontent for anyone out side the top 7 or 8. It is just a natural outcome. No matter what, say as a 9th man you are not going to be happy about not playing. Just the nature of human psyche. You will compare and see other teams going super deep and you'll feel you could have contributed somewhere but are stuck instead in NY playing close to no role while all the starters are in the top 20 of minutes or close to it. That type of team management is bound to fail longterm.

BTW let me reiterate this: Here in Germany last season, prior to the Mitch injury there was already a lot of talk about Hartenstein being super discontented with Thibs and his stint in NY and that he was close to certain to leave in the offseason. Just think about it....Thibs had buried a top 10 Center on the bench, playing 15 minutes a game prior to Mitch's injury....

Well, we just signed Thibs to a contract extension so he’s not going anywhere especially given that we’re in the ECF.

You may be right and the Boston series win gives the FO likely enough cover to bring Thibs back---but know very well that you may be throwing away next season. If we lose to the Pacers (which looks likely), then one can legitimately say Thibs got outcoached by Bickerstaff and Carlisle. We weren't able to outplay an inferior side--even for one single time-- in like 11-12 games (assuming this series goes 5-6 games). Got lucky the first time, ran out of luck the second time.

This has Malone/Jenkins situation written all over it. In my 30 years of following some major sports I have yet to see a coach remain in his position longterm after a big portion of the fanbase has turned on him. Also the season would be a sort of Damocles sword thing....where any stretch of poor play or small losing streaks (which are bound to happen) would be inevitably resulting in noise and coaching discussions.

[Enzo954]

The only thing I give Thibs credit for last night is not putting Cam PAIN in the game. People are praising THibs like he made some amazing moves, but in reality his back was against the wall due to foul trouble. If Brunson and Deuce weren't in early major foul trouble, we never would have seen Shamet or Wright out there.

[knicks94]

Thibs cannot continue depending on these miracle wins, especially if they have to face a team like OKC who could easily blow them out by 40.

I thought OKC just got blown out by 40 plus points.

Thibs is no Finch.

[robillionaire]

Thibs cannot continue depending on these miracle wins, especially if they have to face a team like OKC who could easily blow them out by 40.

I thought OKC just got blown out by 40 plus points.

Thibs is no Finch.

finch lost in the conference finals in 5 games to an underdog 5 seed last year and got out coached by Jason Kidd so I don’t see what’s so great about him