Former NBA star Isaiah Thomas took a big shot with New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.
The New York Knicks were highly moraleed in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals after beating the Boston Celtics in the second round.
The Knicks also have a home court advantage, so fans were hoping for two easy wins for the franchise. However, the Indiana Pacers outperform the Knicks in the first two games.
Many have begun to solidify their responsibility with Manager Tom Thibodeau as the Pacers lead their conference rivals 2-0.
Former NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas appears to be tuned into a Game 2 fight between the Knicks and the Pacers.
With the Knicks causing a 114-109 defeat, Thomas shared his thoughts on what went wrong for the X team.
“Tiv has coaches…this happens to his team every year. They die because he doesn’t trust his bench,” Thomas tweeted.
The overreliance of coach Tibs’s starters has been a recurring theme throughout the regular season, with the veteran coach not appearing that his strategy has changed playoff times.
As a result, it’s no surprise that Rick Carlisle’s Pacers have exploited this major flaw and are currently taking a 2-0 lead in the ECF.
Looking at the series statistics so far, it’s clear that manager Thibodeau likes to shorten his rotations. He used a total of nine players, and Carlisle relied on 11 players.
Even among these nine players, all the starters except the town of Karl Anthony played at least 73 minutes. Meanwhile, Thibodeau has mainly used Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson from the bench.
McBride was 51 minutes in increments, while Robinson was featured in 50 minutes in two games. Finally, Cameron Payne played 19 minutes.
At this point in the season, it’s obviously difficult to expect coach Tibs to change their strategy, but once the Knicks are swept, there’s no doubt that the veteran head coach will have to answer some questions.