It’s uncommon within the NBA for a crew to half methods with its head coach proper after a deep playoff run — and even rarer for the crew that coach simply eradicated to sit down down with him afterward to review movie and discuss technique.
On Monday, simply 48 hours earlier than Opening Evening, the Celtics discovered themselves able to do precisely that.
Tom Thibodeau, who guided the Knicks to their first Japanese Convention Finals look in 25 years, oversaw the franchise clinch a playoff berth 4 occasions below his five-year run and led them to consecutive 50-plus win seasons, was dismissed this previous offseason. Thibodeau’s Knicks prevented the then-reigning champion Celtics from their chase at a repeat by eliminating Boston in six video games, marking one among New York’s largest postseason upsets in latest reminiscence.
But, it wasn’t sufficient for Thibodeau to retain his place within the Large Apple for an additional run within the injury-riddled East. So with the Celtics inching nearer to their season opener towards the 76ers, Thibodeau selected to pay the Celtics an unlikely go to throughout their follow over on the Auerbach Heart.
“I believe that was superior having Thibs,” Jaylen Brown mentioned. “Clearly, they eradicated us final yr. So him with the ability to give us a number of the ideas that he noticed in that sequence, and a number of the stuff that they broke down in our personnel and even our crew, helps us develop and be taught from that. We misplaced final yr. It stung dropping to the Knicks. So to have Thibs right here at our follow and explaining a number of the issues that he noticed that helped them beat us solely helps me get higher, solely helps us get higher. So I worth that. Shoutout to Thibs for being right here at present.”
Thibodeau’s ties to the Celtics group and Massachusetts as a complete run deep. The 2-time recipient of the NBA’s Coach of the Yr Award (2011, 2021) spent practically 20 years serving as an assistant for the Timberwolves, Spurs, 76ers, Knicks, and Rockets within the Nineteen Nineties earlier than getting a shot to work below Doc Rivers’ Celtics in 2007 as an affiliate head coach. A former crew captain and later coach at Salem State College, Thibodeau assisted Boston en path to its 2008 championship win over Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
In order a lot because the journey again to Boston was considerably of a full-circle welcome again for Thibodeau, these inside the ability didn’t squander the prospect to devour as a lot precious intel as doable from their ex-rival.
“He was breaking down some movie and stuff like that, speaking to Joe from a crew perspective and from a top-down perspective; what he wished to do with me and Jayson (Tatum) or what he wished to do with the ball in my arms,” Brown continued. “It lets you develop. Should you’re humble sufficient to hear, it’ll help you develop. … This was a singular place the place a man might are available — instantly after (eliminating you) — and provides us some suggestions on how we might be higher, how I might be higher. So I worth that. That was nice.”
The Celtics blew consecutive 20-point leads towards the Knicks, at residence, to start their convention semifinals matchup, giving New York a 2-0 sequence benefit. That divot proved to be too deep for Boston to dig itself out of, particularly after Tatum suffered an unexpected ruptured proper Achilles tendon in Recreation 4 at Madison Sq. Backyard. Thibodeau countered by throwing a double-big lineup of Karl-Anthony Cities and Mitchell Robinson to dominate the rebounding margin whereas shifting New York’s defensive schemes towards Tatum. It labored and exploited Boston’s blemishes all through the sequence.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is among the many league’s most receptive minds in terms of taking a student-of-the-game strategy to enhancing and welcoming a broader perspective into the crew’s locker room. So even when it means asking Thibodeau the place each he and the Celtics fell quick final postseason, Mazzulla is all ears if it helps the group in the long term.
”He’s been top-of-the-line coaches round for a very long time,” Mazzulla mentioned. “(He) labored right here, gained a championship right here, and simply having him round makes me higher, makes our group higher. So it’s plenty of respect for him.”
