Tom Thibodeau coached circles around the Boston Celtics to eliminate them in the NBA playoffs, but that wasn’t good enough for the Knicks.
New York announced Tuesday that the team relieved Thibodeau of his duties.
Thibodeau led the Knicks to their first Eastern Conference finals in 25 years and made the playoffs in four of five seasons while achieving consecutive 50-plus win seasons for the first time since the 1990s. The 2008 NBA champion won a playoff series in three straight seasons; New York had only won one series from 2001-2020. According to SNY’s Ian Begley, the Knicks owe Thibodeau at least $30 million guaranteed from his recent contract extension.
That didn’t stop Rose and chairman James Dolan from moving on from Thibodeau to pursue another option.
The move follows other drastic decisions like when the Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins and the Denver Nuggets fired Mike Malone and general manager Calvin Booth. Those moves came weeks before the postseason.
Story continues below advertisement
However, it shows how results-oriented the NBA is and how cutthroat the business can be. It’s hard to believe a result could befall Joe Mazzulla, but Boston faces an uncertain future with a new owner and financial decisions forced upon it this offseason.
It highlights how much pressure there is to win every season and why every championship should be celebrated and adorned, because you never know when you’ll get back. Celtics fans know Mazzulla and the C’s don’t fear pressure. They embrace it and put it in a chokehold. However, Mazzulla can spout out as many badass quotes as he wants. If the Celtics don’t get the job done, the NBA has shown that no one’s job is safe.
That’s a reality Mazzulla understood during Boston’s midseason slump. It’s also something fans should understand. The Celtics’ floor is the NBA Finals, and their ceiling is winning it. If they can’t accomplish those goals, changes will be made.