If there's one thing that Tom Thibodeau is known for, it's his stubborn insistence in playing his stars heavy minutes. This has been a common trend for the long-time head coach. It's been a big criticism of the New York Knicks head coach, and it's led to some unnecessarily dicey moments for his teams. One such incident happened against the Boston Celtics.
With the game all but out of reach, it would've made sense for Thibodeau sit his starters in the fourth quarter. After all, rest is the name of the game, especially in such a long season. However, the Knicks starters stayed on longer than anticipated. It eventually backfired on Thibs, as star PG Jalen Brunson went down with an injury in garbage time.
After the game, Thibodeau insisted that he did not regret keeping Brunson out for the final 21 seconds of the game, per Stefan Bondy. The statement naturally angered Knicks fans, who blamed Thibodeau for the injury.
“Thibodeau says he has no regrets about leaving Brunson in the game in garbage time.”
Ok… im done… im on firethibs now. Irresponsible troglodyte.
He really refuses to acknowledge when he’s wrong and its now killing the team. https://t.co/Qek2LNydj1
— X – Ed (@Equint77) December 9, 2023
Tom Thibodeau leaving his starters in with <1 minute while down 10+ only for Jalen Brunson to get injured is a fireable offense.
— Isaiah Sirois (@is_sirois) December 9, 2023
Yeah I bet you don't. Cause u did the same shit to RJ too. Yet when we had a chance, you decided not to play him https://t.co/9ZSTJgiZXD
— 5-2 KnicksFleeceAdmiral 🇭🇹 (@KnicksPiece) December 9, 2023
It will not be a good look for Thibodeau if Brunson was injured in garbage time. This happened two years ago with RJ Barrett. https://t.co/MB8EjCYfkC
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) December 9, 2023
The last two tweets perfectly show why Knicks fans are frustrated with Thibodeau. Just two years ago, RJ Barrett suffered a similar fate when he got injured during garbage time. This feels like the definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Thibodeau is such a polarizing factor for the Knicks. On one hand, the team has experienced their best play ever since he took over as coach. However, decisions like this and some bad plays from the team means that he'll be pinned if he makes a mistake.