Tom Thibodeau | New York Knicks Postgame Press Conference | December 25, 2023

Tom Thibodeau | New York Knicks Postgame Press Conference | December 25, 2023

I I just thought the energy level was you know back to where it needed to be and so um defensive activity was good got us into the Open Floor uh got some easy baskets then made the extra pass got to the back side and uh the offense I thought was very

Unselfish and uh you know and we played from a lead which I think is important and uh you know the first game against them you know Isaiah you know he he went to the bench early with the foul trouble and we we didn’t handle that as well as we could have I thought

The foul trouble today was in the second half but we handled it much better he’s huge huge because we had a buy time you know and that that team is so explosive offensively a bad minute can cost you 10 points and so and they have multiple

Guys that can hurt you in pick and rolls and you know with Lillard the way he can attack in a pick and roll then you have Middleton who probably doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves he’s heck of a pick and roll player and he’s a very

Good playmaker and then Giannis is just you know he can hurt you as the screener and he can hurt you as the ball handler so that puts enormous pressure on you so I thought we got a second and third effort which you need to do against them

Uh we were tied together U I thought we got great play from RJ started off very aggressive and that was huge for us and I thought quick gave us really good minutes and then jayen and Julius were jayen jayen and Julius you know so we

Had a number of guys just play up uh you know play well and and we needed that then you got Isaiah doing what he did and and Taj giving us those good minutes taj’s defensive activity was terrific his hustle plays give us energy about and Quinton too Quinton played excellent

Defense so that that stretch to start the fourth quarter I thought was huge where we were buying time and they extended the lead and they played hard and they made it tough and and we got us into the open floor and Josh was um a monster throughout but from his

Playmaking pushing the pace defending rebounding just all around play9 it was huge and like and I think the easy buckets for everyone and the pace of the game was really good you know and it has to be particularly when you’re attacking their size they’re they

Have two SF Footers on the floor so you got to try to get them before they get set then you got to try to like if they do get set then you got to move them and so I thought once we we got a handle on that that was everyone working together

And trying to create advantages for each other and when you do that then you’re going to get Rhythm Cleo with J quick Julius and Isaiah line just seem to yeah those specific well I think we had to start the fourth I think we had RJ Josh quick uh and Quinton together and then

That group played really well together uh and the mixing and matching was really good too and so the thing that we were trying to match Julius with with Giannis obviously just because of the physicality and and that matchup uh and then you know like I thought our physicality was much better

And that they they’re fast they’re quick they’re strong so uh you know it was again it was both groups I think working very well together and then mixing and matching was good too you know like I said the hard thing is like when I looked at the film we played

A low energy game now I don’t know whether it’s a byproduct of you know all the games that we had on the road and coming back and but that’s the challenge of the league is to be ready to play and there were things that we did in that

Game like when you look at when you watch the film it was like you know Miss layups that normally you know we have some great finishers and we didn’t finish layups which gave him threes that was probably the biggest thing and then we had our pick and roll defense like we

Weren’t into the ball the way we normally are and then when the ball was up on the board we weren’t putting bodies on people we just were low energy and then you know when the teams are up and they’re denying you got to go to

More of a cutting game and you know we usually we cut really well and we didn’t cut and so usually that’s a sign of you know fatigue and but I want us to have the mental toughness that we can get through whatever challenges in front of

Us so and and here’s the thing about that game when you watch it I watched the film two times and what I came away with was we actually played better we had two sequences we had two great shots in the fourth quarter that would have made that game really tight that we

Missed a bunny from seven feet in a wide open three with no one around us so as long as we’re taking the right shots and we’re creating the right shots you know like defensively we got to make sure that the ball pressure is good and then

We’re also you know jump into the ball when the pass is made and if we do that then our shell is going to be tight but if our Shell’s not tight now there’s going to be penetration into the paint and that’s going to be a problem well you know the thing that’s

Really cool about that is you know and I have unbelievable respect for you know Rick because of the career that he carved out and then just seeing jayen you know in the gym around the pros his whole life and you could see like from as a six-year-old like his love for the

Game and the thing that was really cool is Griff was the same way with his kids and they all turned out to be unbelievable players as well and you don’t know when they’re you know young kids they’re just running all over the place and you know shooting baskets and

You know but it it’s really neat to see um the way they’re k kids and they’re not only great players but they’re great people as well and um you know proud of both guys and you know the families that they have and their kids are a great reflection of

Them well it’s huge I think you got to trust the pass and that’s the responsibility of primary scores when like when they get going usually they going to get double team so then you can play off that offense if people are willing to get to the outlets

And make the second pass if you do that then you’re you’re going to get high percentage plays off that because they’re going to be in rotation and when you put people in rotation it also creates opportunities to cut an offensive rebound so um you can get high

Quality offense off of that but you you got to have the trust that you know people be in the right spot and then you you also have to have the understanding that’s why it’s important to practi practice at a high intensity level because in a game particularly in the

Fourth quarter that intensity is different and everyone’s got to be used to working at that speed because that’s what happens in a game and so you know and we can play off jayen we can play off of Julius quickly gets doubled a lot and we got to make sure that they know

Blindly where their Outlets are right just you know I thought are RJ had a good game going and so did quick and that group was going pretty good and I want a little more size in there and that’s the hard thing like you know in Dante played well too it’s those are

Tough decisions and I’m asking all those guys to sacrifice and put the team first and you know some nights it’s one guy’s going good might be a matchup thing might be we need more defense might be we need more offense but just sacrifice everyone put the team first and if we do

That good things will come from it thanks yep thanks

Coach Thibodeau addresses the media after Knicks’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

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