Austin Rivers was an instrumental part of the New York Knicks’ recent stretch of winning basketball, scoring 23 points off of the bench in their most recent win against the Utah Jazz. Seeing Julius Randle transform himself into an elite playmaking big man with bully ball scoring has got fans in New York looking forward to the rest of the season. The Knicks are currently in the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference, and could possibly make the playoffs, as other teams struggle.
A part of the Knicks’ recent success has got to be attributed to coach Tom Thibodeau. Thibodeau has a history of coaching teams to make the playoffs and his teams with the Chicago Bulls are remembered fondly. Austin Rivers recently revealed some facts about Thibodeau’s coaching.
"There's no negotiation. It's Thibs' way or the highway. If you want to play you have to play his way. His way just means hard… Thibs is all about effort."
That's why Knicks have bought in on playing for Tom Thibodeau, says Austin Rivers. He says "Thibs has a respect factor."
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) January 6, 2021
Hopefully, the Knicks can keep it up. The fans in New York need something to cheer for. A young Knicks team coached by Thibodeau is not something that anyone expected to be exciting, but here we are, looking at them get better game by game. Coach Thibodeau’s demand for the Knicks to exhibit effort is to be expected: he is a very good defensive coach, and as people say, defense wins championships.
The New York Knicks might just make the playoffs this season. While we can’t tell the future, they got people talking about them, which is a sign of their good performance as a team. Perhaps later in the season, they can reach an even higher level than what they’re currently at. Thibodeau has them playing at a high level to start the season: if the Knicks could keep going, there could be even better times ahead.
