Tom Thibodeau tinkers with lineup; Knicks rally to beat 76ers
Knicks' Jalen Brunson, left, drives to the basket against Philadelphia 76ers' De'Anthony Melton, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Chris Szagola
PHILADELPHIA — Tom Thibodeau’s stubbornness is almost legendary. He stands by his players and his decisions in the face of any criticism and is content to rest on his arduous studying in his belief in those decisions.
But as the Knicks played only their eighth game of the season on Friday night, Thibodeau pulled the trigger on a change to the starting lineup. He inserted Quentin Grimes in place of Evan Fournier against the 76ers.
During the game, Thibodeau threw all his chips into the pot, putting out lineups that hadn’t been seen all season. In the end, it was just enough as the Knicks came back from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit and escaped with a 106-104 win, snapping their losing streak at three games.
“Thibs switches it up sometimes, but honestly that’s one of the first [times I saw that],” Jalen Brunson said. “I found it worked. He’s going to put us in positions where we’re going to be successful. We’ve just got to execute, and he found something tonight. We rolled with it and came out with a win.
“We all know the spots, we all know the plays from different spots. It’s pretty much interchangeable. We insert players into different spots and we go from there. I mean, we scored points and we won the game. I think that’s pretty special. Different dynamic, different look and we were able to flow through it and came out with a win.”
Was it not enough that Thibodeau switched the starters? How about playing nearly the entire fourth quarter without a center at all, putting Julius Randle and Obi Toppin on the court together and seeing them spur a comeback?
Toppin scored 13 of his 17 points and Brunson added eight of his 23 in the fourth quarter for the Knicks, who fell behind 86-74 with 10:38 left but outscored the 76ers 32-21 in the quarter.
“We had been talking about it, if the opportunity had presented itself,” Thibodeau said of playing Randle and Toppin together. “We had Mitch [Robinson] and Isaiah [Hartenstein] playing a lot of those minutes and also thinking about, OK, we have Jericho [Sims] there, too.
“You have a grouping if you’re behind; at a certain point in the game, you’re going small to change the variance of the game, to speed it up, to get more three-point shooting. You can go with RJ or you can go with Obi, and the way Obi’s shooting the three, it gives us another three-point shooter, so that’s a big plus.”
RJ Barrett scored 22 points and Randle had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who held a 58-53 halftime lead but were outscored 30-16 in the third quarter in falling behind 83-74. After they fell behind by 12, Randle entered to pair with Toppin.
Toppin hit a corner three-pointer to cut the deficit to 93-90 with 3:29 left. Cam Reddish followed with a floater to cut the gap to one, but Tobias Harris delivered a jumper with just over two minutes left for a 95-92 lead.
Randle found Toppin for a three and a 97-96 Knicks lead. Brunson then converted a tough layup as he took a hit, adding a free throw for a four-point Knicks lead with 1:05 to play.
Toppin, who shot 31% from three-point range in his first two seasons, is 14-for-30 (47%) from outside the arc this season, including 3-for-6 in the fourth quarter on Friday.
“We see him shoot every day,” Thibodeau said. “I don’t think he’ll hesitate. He lets it go, which is exactly what we want and what we need. He’s a gifted scorer. I think he’s worked extremely hard on his shot. He’s always had the ability to run the floor, a great finisher. We all see that. But he’s put a lot of work into his shot. He’s shooting the ball great.”
Leading by three with 28.7 seconds left, the Knicks fouled PJ Tucker, who made the first free throw but missed the second. The 76ers got the offensive rebound, but Tyrese Maxey misfired on a three-point attempt. Randle hit two free throws for a 103-99 lead with 24 seconds left.
George Niang’s three-pointer with 8.3 seconds left cut it to one. Brunson was fouled and missed the first free throw with 7.9 seconds left before making the second, and De’Anthony Melton air-balled a potential winning three.
The 76ers were without James Harden (foot) and Joel Embiid (illness). The Knicks went with Hartenstein in the second half after Robinson suffered a right knee injury in the first quarter and did not return after halftime.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
