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New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau explained his head-scratching substitution blunder in Game 5 of the first round. The Eastern Conference's No. 3 seed suffered a discouraging 106-103 loss to the Detroit Pistons, sending the series back to Little Caesars Arena. The headline incident of the game occurred when Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson both went out with injuries with 2:57 remaining in the fourth quarter. At that time, New York was down 97-95. As Detroit extended its lead in the next minute, both Knicks stars stood on the sideline ready to sub in.
The Knicks had one timeout, but on several occasions, Thibodeau refused to use it. After a series of stagnant possessions, Brunson and Hart eventually went back in with less than 30 seconds left and New York down by six. In the postgame interview, Thibodeau gave a quick response to questions about this decision.
“Just where we were with our timeouts. Coach's decision.”
The Knicks are continuing to go to the well and tonight they came up empty
It's fair for New York to believe that whenever it's in a close game with any team down the stretch, it has a solid chance of winning. After all, the Knicks have the Clutch Player of the Year in Jalen Brunson. Additionally, in this series, the Pistons are a young and inexperienced team prone to mistakes. But to win these kinds of games, a lot of things have to go right, including a bit of luck to a certain extent. And the Knicks got unlucky with their health down the stretch, which is unfortunate.
However, there are much larger concerns at hand right now. The Knicks have not found an offensive rhythm this entire series. Everything has looked very hard on that end, and while the defense has been encouraging over these five games, this is the end that was supposed to elevate this franchise into championship contention. And so far, the offense does not look like it has the upside to take that next step.
The scheme is too iso-reliant, and right now, New York is struggling heavily to set good screens on the Pistons' on-ball defenders. And that has not been the case for the Pistons, which is one of the reasons why Ausar Thompson went off with 22 points, almost all from the dunker's spot.
Overall, we've seen this show before from the Knicks. They still have a chance to redeem themselves in Game 6. But the fans know this, and they will support this team no matter what. And this is a very good team that should win this series. But this is also a very frustrating squad to watch. Everything feels like a war when it doesn't have to. The effort and energy waver throughout 48 minutes, the decision-making from high-basketball IQ players can be absolutely baffling at times, and unfortunately, this was a well-deserved result. The Cardiac Knicks have lived up to their nickname once again.
