It’s uncommon within the NBA for a group to half methods with its head coach proper after a deep playoff run — and even rarer for the group that coach simply eradicated to take a seat down with him afterward to review movie and speak technique.
On Monday, simply 48 hours earlier than Opening Night time, 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 instances 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 in every of New York’s greatest postseason upsets in current reminiscence.
But, it wasn’t sufficient for Thibodeau to retain his place within the Huge Apple for one more 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 12 months. So him with the ability to give us a few of the ideas that he noticed in that collection, and a few of the stuff that they broke down in our personnel and even our group, helps us develop and be taught from that. We misplaced final 12 months. It stung shedding to the Knicks. So to have Thibs right here at our follow and explaining a few 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 this time.”
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 12 months 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 group 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 eat as a lot worthwhile intel as potential from their ex-rival.
“He was breaking down some movie and stuff like that, speaking to Joe from a group 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 means that you can develop. When you’re humble sufficient to pay attention, it’ll permit you to develop. … This was a novel place the place a man may are available in — instantly after (eliminating you) — and provides us some suggestions on how we will be higher, how I will be higher. So I worth that. That was nice.”
The Celtics blew consecutive 20-point leads towards the Knicks, at house, to start their convention semifinals matchup, giving New York a 2-0 collection 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 collection.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is among the many league’s most receptive minds in relation to taking a student-of-the-game strategy to bettering and welcoming a broader perspective into the group’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 the most effective 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 a number of respect for him.”
