The New York Knicks [just fired](https://dailyknicks.com/new-york-knicks-shams-charania-reveals-real-reason-fired-tom-thibodeau-new-head-coach) Tom Thibodeau in a move that Boston Celtics fans will find absolutely hilarious. Thibodeau brought the Knicks to their best season in decades, yet he still ended up being thrown to the curb by the very franchise that eliminated the Celtics from the playoffs this year, in part, thanks to Thibodeau’s coaching tactics.
Thibodeau won the Coach of the Year award a few years back, yet now, he’s going to be looking for a new job. Meanwhile, the Celtics are extremely confident in [Joe Mazzulla](https://hardwoodhoudini.com/joe-mazzulla-reveals-motive-powerful-message-jayson-tatum-), who has emerged as one of the best head coaches in the league.
Boston now has a leg up on New York yet again.
**Tom Thibodeau’s impact against the Celtics**
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In the second round of the playoffs, Thibodeau out-coached Mazzulla. There’s no way around it. The choices he made and lineups he put out onto the floor ran circles around the Celtics.
He played more double-big lineups, utilizing Mitchell Robinson to disrupt the Celtics’ lack of size and rebounding. This forced Mazzulla to play hack-a-Robinson constantly in an attempt to get him off the floor.
On top of that, after playing drop defense against the Celtics all season, Thibodeau went away from it in the playoffs. When Jayson Tatum had the ball in his hands, the Knicks lived with the switch, allowing Karl-Anthony Towns and Robinson to guard him in space.
And when that failed, Thibodeau had Jalen Brunson play a hedge defense against Tatum, which seemingly disrupted Boston’s offense and baited them into taking a bunch of threes in a series where they were ice cold from deep.
**Why did the Knicks fire Tom Thibodeau?**
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At a certain point, there’s nothing left to do but fire the coach. The Knicks have been a playoff team for Thibodeau’s entire tenure in New York (except for one season), yet they never made it to the Finals.
Thibodeau has brought success to the organization that no coach since Jeff Van Gundy was able to bring them, yet it still wasn’t good enough.
The Knicks completely ignored the value of continuity, and now, they will be looking for a new head coach. That said, Thibodeau’s faults did come back to bite the Knicks against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals.
His reluctancy to roll out a deep rotation failed to match the Pacers’ run-and-gun style—one in which Rick Carlisle plays a ton of guys to avoid fatigue. As a result, Thibodeau was forced to play Landry Shamrt and Delon Wright, neither of whom was a part of the rotation up to that point.
It makes some sense for New York to move on, but at the same time, firing the coach that just brought the team to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years is a wild move.