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New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau gave a blunt assessment on the officiating during his team's tough 100-94 loss to the Detroit Pistons. The Eastern Conference's No. 3 was trailing this Game 2 clash by more than two possessions from most of the game before launching another furious rally in the fourth quarter. But it was not meant to be this time, after a clutch Dennis Schroder three put Detroit back up with less than a minute to go. The magic ultimately ran out for Jalen Brunson and company, and now this is a series.
While there are plenty of things to clean up on both ends, Thibodeau directed some of his frustration toward the officiating on Monday night. The Pistons shot 15 more free throws in this matchup and were clearly the more physical team. New York Knicks insider Ian Begley broke down Thibodeau's postgame comments in a post on Twitter.
“Tom Thibodeau: ‘I really don’t give a crap how they call the game, as long as it’s consistent.' Thibodeau felt Cunningham got calls on drives similar to Brunson’s. Thibodeau also felt rebounding was a key factor. Said Mitchell Robinson was the only player who rebounded well tonight.”
The Knicks have no one to blame but themselves for this loss
You cannot blame Thibodeau for making these postgame comments on the officiating. There's a case to be made, and we've seen this kind of comment from plenty of head coaches before. And it usually works out. One notable instance occurred last year when the Knicks played the Indiana Pacers in the second round. After Game 2, Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle made his infamous “small market teams deserve an equal shot” comment. It worked, and it speaks to the sad state of NBA officiating that such a statement can be effective.
Anyways, it's time to be honest about tonight's game. Tom Thibodeau has done a phenomenal job making this franchise relevant. No matter what happens after this season, the Knicks fanbase will always owe him a debt of gratitude for his work during these five years. But this was an unacceptable coaching performance. Offensively, for practically the entire second half, the Knicks' half-court offense was egregious.
It was all iso ball with Brunson at the top of the key, usually featuring a single ball screen. Meanwhile, everyone else, for the most part, stood in the corners. This was the type of performance from an offensive design standpoint that you will never see from the elite of the NBA. This kind of predictability and stagnation does not happen with the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Oklahoma City Thunder.
There's plenty of blame to go around for this approach. It's still on Jalen Brunson to get other players involved as the point guard, and it's on players like Karl-Anthony Towns to be more assertive. The series just started, and this was still just one game. There's plenty of time for this team to redeem itself. However, something has to change drastically going forward in this series. If not, the Knicks can forget about being a legitimate title contender and might be in serious trouble against a confident Pistons team.
