Tom Thibodeau enthused about young Knicks' on-the-job training
Knicks forward Jericho Sims looks on against the Washington Wizards in the first half of an NBA basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In a league in which winning is the only thing, coach Tom Thibodeau searched for a silver lining after the Knicks dropped to 28-40 with a 110-107 loss to the Nets in Brooklyn on Sunday.
Thibodeau talked about all "the young guys" who are playing and getting experience. A cynic would say those young guys are getting experience in blowing big leads and losing close game after close game, but with the Knicks needing a miracle just to make the play-in tournament, Thibodeau has no choice but to take the long view.
"That’s all part of learning," he said after the Knicks ended a 3-4 road trip. "As long as we're playing hard and we're playing unselfishly . . . This trip was good for us in many ways, because when you're playing against quality teams, it makes you play better and then it also shows you the things that we have to improve upon.
"So that's where I want the focus to lie: Just keep getting better, keep coming in and give everything you have to the team. We're very shorthanded, so our margin of error is small. But the byproduct [of] the guys being out is other guys get an opportunity."
One of those guys who is out is Derrick Rose, who Thibodeau said is not close to returning from an ankle injury.
With Rose and other veterans missing, the Knicks on Sunday turned to youngsters such as Immanuel Quickley (six points, four assists, seven rebounds in 25:26) and Jericho Sims (six points, 10 rebounds in 23:04), plus Miles McBride and Obi Toppin, who made cameos.
Simms, who played all but 13 seconds of the fourth quarter — and was assigned to double-team Kevin Durant in an attempt to get the ball out of his hands during a 53-point game — impressed Thibodeau.
"Jericho gave us great energy," he said. "And he's big. He's a hard guy to throw [passes] over. So I think that was good for us, and he's got a lot of energy. So he can get out there, trap and get back to the basket and give us protection at the rim. So all that was good.
"On offense, he's still a work in progress. He's got to help us execute. He's got to understand what we're trying to get done."
RJ Barrett is all of 21 years old, so you could say that the Knicks’ future looks bright. You also could say you’ve heard that before and would just like to win now.
The Knicks are 5 1/2 games out of the final play-in spot with 14 games to play. Tall order.
"Just try to keep racking up wins," Barrett said. "You never know. Other teams could also go on losing streaks, too. So you don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s the NBA. Things happen sometimes.
"We’ve been playing amazing basketball since the All-Star break. I always go back to that Phoenix game [a last-second loss on a banked three-pointer]. I feel like we definitely should have had that one. Just all you can do is play good basketball and try to close out these games at the end of the fourth. That’s what we’re going to try to do every game."
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
