LeBron James was wearing street clothes and a mask, still limited to coaching his fellow Lakers. Tom Thibodeau had his huge opening. He knew what it would mean to clinch a playoff spot on the road against the kind of historic franchise the Knicks have only been in their dreams.
Boston had lost to Miami, and James had decided to rest his ankle for one more night, leaving the Knicks with a very doable proposition separating them from the postseason for the first time since 2013. Thibs was a kid in Connecticut when his favorite team, the Knicks, twice beat the Lakers in the Finals for what would be their only two titles over nearly three quarters of a century of NBA play. The Lakers are planning to finally hang their 17th championship banner Wednesday night. So yeah, the opponent meant something. Of course it did.
Even without LeBron on the floor.
The Knicks couldn’t get it to the house in Staples Center Tuesday night, falling to the Lakers in overtime, 101-99, despite the fact that Julius Randle did his thing and Derrick Rose did his. After making a rainbow 3-pointer to give the Knicks a 99-98 lead with 1:10 left, Randle was called for traveling before Talen Horton-Tucker made the go-ahead 3 for the Lakers. The Knicks’ final possession went nowhere before RJ Barrett forced up a desperation heave that hit nothing as the horn sounded.
In a fourth-quarter timeout, a TNT microphone caught Thibodeau telling his team his signature raspy voice, “It’s all about your fight, about your will.” Thibodeau was angry that Rose allowed Wesley Matthews to get the offensive rebound and putback that tied the game near the end of regulation. “All we had to do was get one rebound,” the coach said. But truth was, Rose and the Knicks showed incredible fight and will in this game, at the end of a long road trip. It was another example of how Thibodeau, at 63, has spent this season delivering a coaching clinic for the ages.
He pieced together one of the great first-year jobs we’ve seen in any sport in New York. Joe Torre won the World Series in 1996, though Buck Showalter had already built a postseason program. Mike Keenan might have retired the trophy with his one-and-done run with the Rangers in 1993-94, winning 18 more games than his predecessors (Roger Neilson/Ron Smith) won in 1992-93 and ending a Stanley Cup drought that started before the U.S. entered World War II. Davey Johnson won 90 games for the Mets in 1984, 22 more than his predecessors (George Bamberger/Frank Howard) won in ’83. Pat Riley won 51 games with the Knicks and took Michael Jordan’s Bulls to a Game 7 of the conference semis a year after Stu Jackson and John McLeod went 39-43.
Bill Parcells went 9-7 with the 1997 Jets a year after Rich Kotite went 1-15.
Thibodeau stands with all of them, even if the Knicks’ record, 38-31, might not look as impressive 20, 30, 40 years from now, when people have forgotten just how broken the franchise was for two decades under Jim Dolan, and just how miserable it was to be within a country mile of this team.
“My God,” Parcells said by phone earlier in the day, “this has been like going from the outhouse to the castle.”
As a lifelong Knicks fan who had attended his first game in the Garden 70 years ago, Parcells was heavily invested in this postseason push and, after the oddsmakers forecasted a 22-50 season, in Thibodeau’s ability to persuade his players that this was even remotely possible.
“The Knicks try to play the right way, you know what I mean?” Parcells said. “They play both ends of the floor, and they’re unselfish. That’s what a team is supposed to be.
“Confidence is born out of demonstrated ability. You’ve got to demonstrate it, and beating the Clippers [on Sunday] was a good demonstration right there. That makes you say, ‘Hey, we might have a chance to do something.’ ”
The Knicks still have a chance to do something hard to fathom five months ago — host and win a first-round playoff series, and maybe even frighten a heavyweight in Round 2. Who could have guessed that the Knicks would be in this position, one victory away from avoiding the play-in tournament that will likely include LeBron’s Lakers, the defending champs? Who could have guessed that Randle would be this kind of sweet-shooting All-Star, or that Rose would be playing like this in his second New York act? Who could have guessed that the Knicks — the ultimate gang that couldn’t shoot straight — would stand among the league’s most efficient 3-point-shooting teams?
Who could have guessed that Tom Thibodeau would pull this off as quickly as he did?
“You can’t help but like what this guy has done,” Parcells said.
Despite this overtime loss, you can’t help but think it’s about as good as a first-year coach in New York has ever been.