Tom Thibodeau is aware what his critics say about the minutes he plays his players, and he doesn't care.
It was once again a subject during the New York Knicks' playoff run, especially toward the end of the second round series against the Indiana Pacers, when the Knicks appeared to run out of gas. Knicks forward Josh Hart at one point played 10 straight quarters without a rest, and like many of his teammates, was injured by the end of the series.
Thibodeau appeared on "The Roommates Show" podcast with Jalen Brunson and Hart and was asked what he thought about criticisms that he plays his best players too many minutes.
"I don't ever worry about that," Thibodeau said. "Like I tell you guys at the beginning of the season, you begin with the end in mind, you prepare yourself for what you're going to have to do all season long."
Thibodeau noted that in the Knicks' second-round series against the Pacers, Hart averaged 38.5 minutes per game and Brunson averaged 36.4 minutes per game. Thibodeau said that while there are games that players will play big minutes, the averages show that it balances out.
Thibodeau also noted that several players in the NBA Finals are currently playing 40-plus minutes per game, but the topic hasn't come up.
"For whatever reason, [that reputation] has stuck with me," Thibodeau said. "It is what it is. I don't really care."
Now entering his 13th season as a head coach and his fifth as the Knicks head coach, Thibodeau said he's also learned to pace his team over the course of the regular season.
"People don't realize there's so many different ways to pace your team. So someone who doesn't even know your team, they're picking up the box score and saying, oh this guy played this many minutes. He doesn't know what you've done for the season, but neither does he know what you've done for practice."
Thibodeau continued: "If you're an experienced head coach, you know how to pace your team. So you know, okay, I gotta watch this guy today and the challenge is, he's gotta do enough so that he can stay sharp and be ready to play, but maybe he's not doing the whole thing. Maybe he's got the [substitute] early. Maybe there's no contact that day. Maybe it's just, we're going to review these things, this is what we're doing. So [critics] don't know that, so they don't know how you're pacing your team.
"Like I said, the thing that I pride myself on is how well our team plays in the second half of the season. I think it's a byproduct of pacing your team correctly."
On the podcast, Hart once again reiterated his defense of Thibodeau, saying that the Knicks' practices are more mental than physical. Hart is known to hate practicing.
Hart has previously said that during games, Thibodeau frequently checks if Hart needs a rest. Hart has said he told Thibodeau to stop asking and that he would say something if he needed a break.
While Thibodeau could be criticized for not going to his bench more or finding ways to buy someone like Hart a few minutes of rest, the Knicks' playoff run ending with a thud was more about injuries taking their toll. The team played without Julius Randle, OG Anunoby, and Mitchell Robinson for most (or in Randle's case, the entirety) of the second half of the season. In the playoffs, Robinson, Anunoby, and Bojan Bogdanovic all got hurt, leaving the Knicks' incredibly shorthanded.
On the podcast, Thibodeau said with a smile, "I really don't care what they say, Jalen, you know that."
Watch the clip below:
