A year ago, Kendrick Perkins only had an appreciative message for the Knicks head coach. “Tom Thibodeau got my vote for NBA Coach Of The Year!!! Carry the hell on…” A regular season later, it seems the ESPN analyst is not very pleased. Despite the New York team’s 51 wins is the most by a Knicks team since 2012-13. Even with the additions of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, Big Perk has less confidence as the playoffs race begins.
“I’m looking at Tom Thibodeau right now, and I’m saying you’re in the hot seat. You’re under pressure. What they gave up to get Mikal Bridges, you go, and you get Karl-Anthony Towns in the off-season,” Kendrick Perkins said on ESPN’s Get Up. “So, you basically went all in, and the Knicks are on record saying that we’re on record saying that we’re trying to get the personnel to match the defending champs.” It was in November when the Celtics legend first aired the word of caution.
After a few good trades, it was an inconsistent start at 3-4 in seven games. “Tom Thibodeau, in my eyes, is under the most pressure as far as coaches under pressure… The Knicks actually have expectations.” Despite that shaky start to the season, the head coach was able to guide his team to a third seed in the Eastern Conference. But the former champion believes that the positive end to the regular season won’t matter much until there is postseason glory.
“So, I’m looking at what’s happening across the league. We watched the firing of Taylor Jenkins. We watched Michael Malone get fired,” said Perkins, and put forward the condition for the Knicks coach. “Tom Thibodeau had better make it to the conference finals; otherwise, I don’t see him being the head coach of the New York Knicks past this season.” With just three games remaining in the regular season, the Denver Nuggets fired Michael Malone.
The decision, at first, was a head-scratcher, but later reports stated that the winningest coach of the franchise lost the dressing room. Maybe that’s why Perkins wants Thibs to be careful not to suffer the same fate.
Can Tom Thibodeau inspire the team after Kendrick Perkins’ advice?
The Knicks have won at least 50 games for the second straight season! Which is the first back-to-back 50-win season since 1995. Now, they will play against the number 6 seed Detroit Pistons. Even if they beat their opponents in the first round, their expected second-round opponents will be the Boston Celtics. The same against whom they have a 0-4 record. They fell to 0-4 against the No. 2-seeded Celtics with a 119-117 overtime loss in their final matchup. That came after the defending champions blew them out by 23, 27, and 13 in the three previous meetings.
Even the record against the number one seed is not positive. In fact, it’s the same 0-4 record that makes it a 0-8 record against Cleveland and Boston. “We’ve got to be honest with ourselves, look at what we did wrong. We’ve got to get it fixed, and we’ve got to get it fixed fast.” Tom Thibodeau was optimistic despite blowing a 23-point lead against the Cavs. So, it will be a tough ask for the coach, and it makes it interesting that Kendrick Perkins laid the challenge for Thibs to succeed. The first matchup will be against Detroit.
The Knicks fanbase knows the record of just 1-3 against isn’t inspiring confidence. So, overall, against the 3 stated opponents, the combined record this season is just 1-11. However, the oddsmakers believe in New York. A lot. The Knicks are currently -425 favorites to win the series. That’s an implied probability of 80.95%. Will it inspire the team to greater post-season success? Only time will tell.
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