Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, left, gives instructions during a timeout...

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, left, gives instructions during a timeout in the second half of the team's NBA game against the Magic Feb. 17 in Orlando, Fla. Credit: AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack

On the day the NBA suspended its season a year ago, Tom Thibodeau was out of work, having been fired a little more than a year earlier by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

But as you might expect, rather than sunning himself somewhere, he was attending the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, studying up on the latest trends and numbers in preparation for the day his chance would come again, and on his way to Milwaukee to sit in on Bucks practices with the coaching staff.

If this is how Thibodeau spent his time away from the game, you can imagine how he would like to schedule his days now that he is coaching again.

Thibodeau has long been trailed by a reputation for long and detailed practice sessions. Some of it is criticism from players who were unaccustomed to the demands. Some of it is reality, which he would confess to. His supporters would point to the results.

But this season he has had to navigate a strange path. He officially signed on in July as Knicks coach with the pandemic still raging. With no Las Vegas Summer League and a limited chance to work with players — first at all and then as a group — the opportunity to acclimate his team to his system took a hit. He still managed to implement his system and guide the Knicks to a 19-18 record in the first half of the schedule.

The task has not gotten easier, though. Hoping to avoid any spread of COVID with players returning from the All-Star break, the NBA implemented stringent testing measures for the first week back (two tests per day) and also limited practice time — and the ability to start with a full squad on the court together. Practices are being conducted at night, often because the team cannot gather until all COVID test results for the day have cleared.

"There’s more testing that we have to go through," Thibodeau said. "And so your shootarounds are really being done the night before. So you’re doing a walk-through in the ballroom [on game-day mornings]. It’s limited.

"Every team is dealing with the same thing. You just try to maximize your time the best you can. When you start mapping it out and you look at how many practices you can have from now to the end of the season when you factor in your back-to-backs and things like that, it’s limited. And so that’s why you have to make the most of your time and try to take advantage of extra film work and that sort of thing."

Because the Knicks were able to navigate the first half of the season with only one game postponed due to the pandemic (their opponent, the Spurs, was unable to dress eight players), they had to add only one game to the second half of the schedule — and they subtracted one when a meeting with Detroit was moved from the second half to the first half.

But they still have 35 games in 67 days in the second half, and after playing the easiest first-half schedule, they now will have the third-hardest schedule, based on level of opponents.

And it’s not just the opponents, but when they face them. The Knicks started the second half Thursday in Milwaukee and were pounded, 134-101, in the beginning of a four-game road trip that will have them face three of the top teams in the Eastern Conference — the Bucks, Nets and 76ers — with Saturday’s game against the Thunder added to the mix. (The Knicks won, 119-97.)

In May, the Knicks will have a six-games-in-10-days road trip through the Western Conference, the sort of back-breaking trek that can destroy a team’s hopes. The Knicks must do it while trying to navigate the protocols of the coronavirus, limiting the workload that Thibodeau would like to utilize.

To aid in the effort, the coaching staff has focused on scouting and film work. Julius Randle spoke earlier this season of how much preparation is provided to each player, amounts he had never seen in his career. But even with that, for a team in its first season with the coaching staff and one that still is piecing itself together, the task is not simple.

"Got to figure it out," RJ Barrett said. "We’ve got to figure it out. No matter what circumstances, no matter what’s going on, no matter what protocols, you still get out there on the floor and compete against another team. None of that stuff really matters. You’ve got to come in prepared and play hard to win games."

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