It was a gutsy name — a call Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau stands by as his crew travels to Miami for Games 3 and 4 of their second-round playoff in opposition to the Heat.
It doesn’t matter how scorching a participant is offensively. If he’s hurting the group on the opposite finish of the ball, Thibodeau may have a fast hook.
It occurred within the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ five-point, series-tying victory over the Heat in Game 2 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Forward RJ Barrett was on a heater from downtown, hitting 4 of his first six threes on the evening and ending on a five-of-nine clip from downtown.
But as Barrett struggled to get stops defensively within the fourth quarter, usually letting Miami’s Gabe Vincent get photographs off at will, Thibodeau made the choice to bench his fourth-year wing in favor of protection: He introduced starter Josh Hart again into the sport to shut the quarter and rode defensive-minded wing Quentin Grimes for the rest of regulation.
“You’re doing the things you think are going to help you win the game. Again they’re tough decisions,” Thibodeau mentioned of the choice to take a seat Barrett the ultimate seven minutes of Tuesday’s victory. “So we’re asking everyone to sacrifice and put the team first. So sometimes it’s just the way the defense was unfolding, the way they’re shooting the three, I thought we had to contain the ball and get back to people. So the group that was in there I thought gave us the best chance of doing that.”
Thibodeau instructed the Knicks had a greater stream defensively with Grimes within the recreation over Barrett.
“Just defensively, I felt very good,” he mentioned. “I think the more he plays, the more the rhythm will come. I thought we created good shots and good rhythm. So I think we made 16 threes today. It was a byproduct of people working together to create those shots.”
The subject, in fact, is just not killing Barrett’s confidence in getting stops down the stretch. It’s additionally rewarding the hot-shooting ahead for his well timed shot-making.
Barrett had been benched within the fourth quarter a lot of occasions in the course of the common season, however the 5 threes he hit in Game 2 marked probably the most he’s hit in any recreation this season.
In reality, the Knicks’ ahead is averaging 25 factors per recreation on 48.6% taking pictures from the sphere and 43% taking pictures from downtown by means of the 2 opening video games of this second-round sequence.
Thibodeau has performed this card earlier than with different gamers: He’s benched each stars Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle in crunch-time minutes up to now — together with Randle’s fourth-quarter benching for the closeout Game 5 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers within the first spherical.
He’s all the time going to experience the group that provides the Knicks one of the best likelihood to win — even when it doesn’t embody a well-recognized beginning face — and particularly if that closing unit has 5 sound defenders on the courtroom.
“Just the way the game unfolded. That’s all,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Look, RJ is enjoying terrific for us. Sometimes you want a unique matchup. So we get the matchup, and we get going and bought into a bit little bit of a rhythm. So we wished to experience it out, and that’s all we did.
“RJ is key to the team. I’ve asked the same from Jalen and Julius, all those guys sacrifice and put the team first. We’re not worried about anything but winning games.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com