Erik Spoelstra, Tom Thibodeau differ as coaches but alike in passion
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams
On the surface, Erik Spoelstra and Tom Thibodeau are nothing alike.
Spoelstra is one of those coaches who rarely look rattled. Even when he is arguing a call, even when he is in a passionate debate with one of his Heat players, Spoelstra rarely has a hair out of place. The ultimate glass-is-half-full guy, Spoelstra smiles in news conferences and says uplifting things like “we found a beauty in the struggle” when talking about the adversity the Heat have faced this season.
And Thibodeau? Let’s just say no one would describe the Knicks coach’s scowling courtside demeanor as cool. Disheveled? Yes. Ticked off? You bet. The ultimate glass-is-half-empty guy, Thibodeau rarely smiles in news conferences and deflects questions with phrases like “I’m concerned about everything” and “I’m never happy.”
Yet, when it comes to hard work and a passion for the game that borders on obsession, the two coaches whose teams are tied at 1-1 in their Eastern Conference semifinals series have a lot more in common than not. And you can bet both will be working tirelessly to make adjustments before their series resumes Saturday in Miami.
Right now, the Heat have an edge with Spoelstra, who somehow has never won an NBA Coach of the Year award despite having won two NBA championships and having been to the Finals five times. Though the series is even, Spoelstra has been the better coach in both games.
No one in the NBA has done more with less than Spoelstra this season. Just take a look at the starting lineup the Heat had Tuesday night in their 111-105 loss. With Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro out, the Heat started three undrafted free agents in Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent.
Knowing what he had to work with and that both Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle were going to be back on the floor with the Knicks, Spoelstra gave his team the green light to shoot the three and employed a zone defense. The tweak was enough to keep his team in the game until the Knicks pulled off some second-half heroics.
Spoelstra also made key halftime adjustments in Game 1 that helped his team steal the win. With the Knicks shooting so poorly from the outside in the first half, Spoelstra changed his defensive scheme to force them into shooting even more threes while packing the paint where they had gotten most of their first-half points. On defense, he switched Butler onto Brunson, who had been the Knicks' only consistent shot creator.
Thibodeau’s strengths are as a defensive coach, but it would have helped if he made some offensive countermoves, especially late in Game 1 after it was clear that Butler was hurt. The Knicks needed to attack a player who clearly wasn’t himself and take advantage of the fact he was trying to be a hero by staying in the game.
As the Knicks head to Miami for two games, they have to try to steal a game so they aren’t on the brink of elimination when they return home. A big key to that will be containing Butler, whom the Knicks expect to play.
In Game 1, the Knicks tried to keep the ball out of Butler’s hands like they had done to Donovan Mitchell in their first-round series against the Cavaliers. It might have worked if the Knicks had hit some of their three-pointers and matched the Heat’s offensive output.
They will likely do that again, putting Josh Hart on Butler. What could make this game different is Randle. It takes a lot more energy to repeatedly drive to the paint when you have to contend with a big player like Randle, so it will be interesting to see if that, or a sore ankle, slows Butler down.
In the meantime, you can bet Spoelstra is going to come up with some adjustments of his own.
The one thing that won’t change? Thibodeau will still be a panicked-looking madman on the sideline, while Spoelstra coolly finds the beauty in the struggle.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
