Knicks Fire Tom Thibodeau: New York passes from the coach after the end of the finals of the Eastern Conference, compared to

The New York Knicks dismissed head coach Tom Thibodeau, according to several reports. The decision comes a few days after eliminating the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals by the Indiana Pacers in six games. The Knicks entered the season in the hope of winning their first championship since 1973 after spending six first round choices, a first round exchange, Julius Randle and Donte Divincenzo to acquire the cities of Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony during the offseason. However, despite their best qualifying series since 2000, they ultimately did not reach the Nba Finals despite the advantage of home at home in the finals of the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks hired Thibodeau in 2020 to resume a team that had not reached the playoffs in the previous seven seasons. He immediately changed this, the winning coach of the year with a 41-31 2020-21 campaign. The Knicks missed the playoffs in 2022, but reached the second round in consecutive seasons thereafter thanks to the addition of free agent Jalen Brunson. With Brunson in place, the Knicks felt like a fundamental room and were ready to go all-in.

Bridges, who played collegially with Brunson and his compatriot Knick Josh Hart in Villanova, was supposed to arrive as the second star of 3 and D alongside Og Anunoby. He ended up spending his worst 3 -point shooting season since his recruit year and has decreased considerably in defense. Cities have proven to be a full -fledged defensive problem despite attack prosperity.

Meanwhile, years playing his starters more than any other coach began to make up for Thibodeau. Bridges said In publicly in March, playing so many minutes is sometimes not “fun on the body”. However, Thibodeau did not give in and, in part, the Knicks have never developed a reliable bench.

They also did not experience with almost enough queues. A major problem that has developed throughout the season was the bad shooting of Hart. The Knicks failed to execute a pick-and-roll between Brunson and Towns because the defenses put their centers on Hart so that they can serve as additional assistance defenders. The Knicks could have circumvented this by inserting a shooter in the place of Hart in the programming, with Deuce McBride frequently mentioned as a candidate. But the less of the less Hart played only 82 regular season possessions with McBride. All the other combined knicks only played 91 possessions alongside the unity of four men from Brunson, Towns, Anunoby and Bridges. Hart played a little less than 1,900 with his starting colleagues.

Tom Thibodeau coach record with Knicks

The Knicks entered the 2025 playoffs as a seeded n ° 3, the highest seed that the Knicks team had won in more than a decade. It was not always easy, but they managed to go through the Pistons de Detroit in six games in the first round, then stun the defending champion Boston Celtics in six games in the second. With Boston defeated and the Cleveland 64 winners who were eliminated on the other side of the support, New York had its clear way to the finals for decades.

These hopes were destroyed by the possible champion of the Eastern Pacers conference, and a large part of what went wrong in this series was posed at the feet of Thibodeau. Despite Josh Hart suggesting A change in private departure range during the Boston series, Thibodeau remained with the most used programming in the NBA for the first two games against Indiana.

The Knicks lost both at home, and their starters lost their minutes by 29 points. This unit was finally upgraded by 31 points in the playoff series. They were on the ground while the Knicks surprisingly blown up a nine points lead in the last minute of match 1, the loss that could have cost them the series. Thibodeau has adapted as the series progressed, even by removing good minutes from the reserve rarely seen Landry Shamet and Delon Wright, but this led to additional questions on the reasons why it took him two defeats to use his bench in the first place. In the end, New York lost a winning series in six games.

Thibodeau – who signed a contract extension last summer This was to travel the 2027-28 season – left New York as the fourth most winning coach in the history of the Knicks behind Red Holzman, Joe Lapchick and Jeff Van Gundy. Now, the Knicks reintegrate the coaching market with a strong list and a proven front office.

The work should be quite attractive, and with so much turnover of coach in the league in recent years, there is no shortage of qualified candidates. But the bar is high here. Thibodeau won six wins in less in the championship. Anyone who replaces the replacement will take the work knowing that the Knicks are in Ou-Bust championship mode.