One of the defining moments of Tom Thibodeau’s coaching career came on April 28, 2012. He was in his second year as an NBA head man at that point, overseeing the Chicago Bulls, the Eastern Conference’s top seed, in their playoff opener against the Sixers.
And in an instant, things went sideways. With 1:22 left and the Bulls up 12 in a game they had led by 20, star guard Derrick Rose crumpled to the floor with a torn left ACL. Chicago closed that game out. But Rose’s injury, combined with a subsequent ankle injury suffered by Joakim Noah, tipped the balance in favor of Philadelphia, which would win that series in six games.
Rose had been an All-Star three straight seasons and the ‘10-11 MVP, but he missed the ‘12-13 season and all but 10 games the season after that. While he played 15 seasons in all (ending in ‘23-24), he was never again an All-Star, never again the player he once was.
And the question ricocheting around the NBA universe in April 2012 was this: Why was he still in the game?
Thibodeau, now the New York Knicks’ boss, has since heard that one on more than a few occasions, and about more than a few players. But he was unapologetic about Rose at the time, telling reporters that he “would not have done anything different,” and his approach has seldom varied. He’s gonna play his best guys big minutes – enormous minutes – knowing full well that games turn in an instant.
Then came Sunday, and Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. And somebody who looked suspiciously like Thibodeau suddenly used a bunch of guys. Started Mitchell Robinson in place of Josh Hart, who saw a ton of action anyway. Used Landry Shamet and Delon Wright extensively off the bench, even though both had seldom been heard from this postseason. Even walked a tightrope after star guard Jalen Brunson drew his fifth foul with 7:03 left.
Karl-Anthony Towns, who notched 20 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, was a huge reason the Knicks won, 106-100, but far from the only one. Brunson did some things after being reinserted with 1:37 left, having sat the previous 5:26. Hart nailed four big free throws in the final 1:17. And New York’s defense was brilliant in the second half, after the Knicks fell behind by 20 in the second quarter.
But Thibodeau deserves some credit, too, for finally, finally, finally changing things up.
“Whatever gives us the best chance to win, that’s what we’re gonna do,” he told reporters afterward. “That’s what I felt gave us the best chance to win tonight’s game.”
Shamet, 28, was a late first-round draft pick of the Sixers in 2018 who lasted 54 games in Philadelphia before being sent to the Clippers in the Tobias Harris trade. In all he has played for six teams in his seven seasons, though he had seen just over 30 minutes of daylight while appearing in half the Knicks’ 14 playoff games before Sunday.
The 33-year-old Wright is in his 10th season, and on his 10th team. The brother of former Sixer Dorell Wright, he had played a total of 3:32 while seeing action in just two of New York’s postseason games before Sunday.
Yet Wright played over 13 minutes in Game 3, and Shamet was out there for over 11. Neither had head-turning individual numbers – Shamet scored three points, Wright two – but their respective plus-minuses were plus-12 and plus-2. Nobody on the Knicks was better than Shamet in that department.
Meantime Robinson – the “Block Ness Monster” is among his nicknames, according to Basketball Reference – had six points, six rebounds and a single rejection while playing nearly 29 minutes in his first playoff start of the year. And Hart accumulated eight points, 10 boards and four assists in 34 minutes.
NBA number-cruncher Keerthika Uthayakumar noted on Bluesky that the Knicks played 15 different lineups Sunday, seven for the first time this season. Another had been together for exactly one possession before Sunday.
Again according to Uthayakumar, New York’s bench outscored the Indiana reserves 15-4 in the second half, and the Pacers’ celebrated subs managed two field goals while turning the ball over seven times in the closing 24 minutes.
As a result the Knicks erased a 20-point deficit for the third time this postseason. They’re still down 2-1 in the series, but they have life. They have a bench. (Who knew?) And if anybody were to warm over an old question and ask Thibodeau why Shamet or Wright were out there, his answer would be the same as it ever was.
Because they damn well had to be.
In other times and other settings, that might have seemed like a questionable approach. Maybe even a heartless one. But not in this case. Not now. Now Thibodeau is dusting guys off and desperate for answers. Now his team’s season is riding on his adjustments and conclusions. He can only hope that this is the right way to fly, that going against his history will get the Knicks going in the right direction.