Knicks fans, at least the large, vocal contingent, finally got what they wanted on Friday night when the team’s youth took the reins in the fourth quarter, and overcame a 17-point deficit to stun the slumping Heat in Miami.
The win, New York’s first in South Beach in five years, saw all of what many Knicks fans have been clamoring to see: more minutes for the likes of Miles McBride, Jericho Sims, Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin, and Quentin Grimes, so the team can get a better look at its future during a season that appears to be going nowhere in the present.
Tom Thibodeau has caught the brunt of that criticism regarding the Knicks rotations and playing time, and he fired back after New York finished off Friday’s victory.
“They were the same young legs that we had in the first half,” Thibodeau said. “The thing is, you guys are trying to nitpick this and nitpick that. You need everyone over the course of the season. We love our young guys. They’re supposed to bring energy, and they did. they were terrific. But you need RJ [Barrett], you need Julius [Randle]…you need everyone. It’s a team.
“How many people are watching the game after the game is played to really know exactly what happened in the game? I see a lot of opinions, but I don't see a lot of people doing the work to actually study it.”
Thibodeau had been giving the bulk of the second-half minutes to veteran starters like Randle, Evan Fournier, even Taj Gibson at times. But on Friday, Sims sat for just 42 seconds of the final period, while Quickley and McBride played a full 12 minutes, and Grimes played nine. Randle was out with quad soreness, leaving space for more youngsters, but Thibodeau insists that social media or the media itself have no influence on his rotation decisions, nor does he feel previous criticism regarding those decisions is warranted.
“It’s where we are in society today. Social media,’’ Thibodeau said. “Look, hey, it’s part of the game. We love it. It drives the game. It’s as popular as it’s ever been. But to me, I don’t like anything that eats away at the fabric of the team.”
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