Tom Thibodeau's message: Knicks' winning streak means nothing in next game
Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks celebrates after a 109-106 win over the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on December 18. Credit: Getty Images/Andy Lyons
INDIANAPOLIS — The Knicks had just completed a hard-fought comeback Sunday night and beaten the Pacers to extend their winning streak to seven games, including six straight on the road, an improbable feat that the franchise hadn’t accomplished in nearly 10 years. And the Knicks were celebrating.
The locker room was joyful. Players joked with each other, urged the staff to give them a well-earned day off Monday and celebrated hard enough that the team’s digital staff had to release the handshakes and high-fives video with no audio.
But Tom Thibodeau insisted on pushing one message of caution to his players, even if he did give them the day off. Golden State and Toronto arrive at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the challenges are not over.
“Each game is different,” Thibodeau said. “Like, win streaks don’t mean anything. This game won’t mean anything in our next game. You gotta start all over, put the work into preparation and then when the ball goes up, be ready to go.”
Asked if this winning streak — the current best streak in the NBA — meant anything to him, he paused before answering, “Uh, no."
“Obviously, it’s always better to win,'' he said, "but to think that you’re going to win the next game because you have a win streak, that’s usually how — if you start skipping over the steps to prepare for a game, then there’s going to be slippage and then you’re going to get knocked down, and I don’t want us to get knocked down. I want us to be ready for the next game, and then when we handle that one, whatever happens, then be ready for the next. Make sure that you have your routine down and don’t allow anyone to distract you, particularly the media.”
Fair enough. Every player — and the coach — was being asked about the streak. But even if Thibodeau’s point about the carryover is correct in theory, the six straight wins that preceded this one might have helped make this one possible.
When Tyrese Haliburton found Aaron Nesmith all alone for a dunk and a six-point Indiana lead with less than two minutes remaining, it seemed like the sort of missed assignment failure that once would have caused shoulders to slump and started fingers pointing.
But Jalen Brunson hit a three-pointer to cut the lead in half and then had a steal and breakaway layup to close the gap to one, and suddenly the Knicks had steals on three straight possessions. Julius Randle hit six clutch free throws in the final 45.6 seconds to clinch the 109-106 victory, the Knicks were 17-13 and the party was on.
Does that happen without the previous six wins? Maybe.
“We’re confident, but we know that we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Brunson said. “Got a lot of good teams coming in these next couple of days. We’ve just got to stay focused, can’t relax, can’t have bad days. We’ve got to stay focused.
“Yeah, [we’re] growing, growing and not being complacent and not being satisfied. We’re just continuing to get better every single day.”
“We're playing some really good basketball right now, sticking together on both ends,” RJ Barrett said. “Everybody's contributing. It's fun to watch. It's amazing to see. We just got to continue that as long as we can. It feels good to win, so you can't really think about it. It is nice to have a streak, but at the end of the day, when we leave here, this game is over. We got to go on to the next challenge.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
