The New York Knicks didn’t look prepared at all to host the Oklahoma City Thunder at Madison Square Garden on Friday. They couldn’t make their shots fall and made key defensive errors that allowed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to run them out of their own building with a 39-point performance. Former NBA coach Sam Mitchell thinks the Knicks’ blowout 101-126 loss should be taken as a wake-up call for head coach Tom Thibodeau to change his side’s mindset.
Advertisement
The 2007 Coach of the Year delivered a detailed to-do list for the 66-year-old head coach during an NBA TV interview. “You [Thibodeau] gonna [have to] lie to them [the Knicks players]...when you get your butt whopped like this, you gonna have to try to fool them…if you’re Tom Thibodeau, you have to…reset their mindset,” Mitchell said.
“Because everybody had been crowning the Knicks and saying how great the Knicks are! That they can come out of the East and this that and the other…but in reality, you’re playing against a Championship-quality team in OKC and they have taken you to the woodshed…so if you the Knicks you gotta have a reset,” he added.
“You can’t keep playing 5 guys 40 minutes a game” ️@SamMitchellNBA gives his thoughts on the Knicks after their loss to OKC with @laurenjbara ✨ pic.twitter.com/fP9Bgn1hgk
— NBA TV (@NBATV) January 11, 2025
Mitchell thinks that the Knicks are a good team, but they have grown too complacent with all the praise they have been getting. The two lost games against Oklahoma in the past few days should warrant a change in their mentality. Coach Thibs has to prepare them to win against title-contending teams, because their goal is to win a Championship, not maintain a good record in the East.
The Knicks are currently third in their Conference with a 25-14 record. But they have lost four of their last five games, only saving face against a 8-29 Raptors team at home. That’s why Mitchell suggested that the Knicks HC should con the team into believing that they are falling apart and need major adjustments immediately.
The 61-year-old also underlined another issue plaguing the Knicks.
The Knicks are overusing their starters
Thibodeau has been facing pushback from different circles for overusing his starters in the 2024-25 season as well. The veteran coach did the same with his top players last season, which resulted in a Knicks team reeling with fatigue and unforeseen injuries deep into the playoffs.
“At some point the Knicks gotta figure out their bench…because you can’t keep playing five guys 40 minutes a game,” Mitchell added in the NBA TV interview.
Before hosting the Thunder at MSG on Friday, the Knicks’ starters, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and Jalen Brunson, played 38, 38, 34, 36, and 35 minutes respectively in their game against the Raptors. This kind of big minutes in every single game might have contributed to their flameout against OKC.
The Knicks have three guys in the list of players with most NBA minutes this season, with Bridges and Hart occupying the top two spots. This is certainly not the right way to go if Thibs wants his starters to fight with intensity in the postseason.
The Knicks might look to make some trades before the deadline to strengthen their bench. Otherwise, they run the risk of inviting injuries, or at least fatigue, to their team.
