On Tuesday night, the New York Knicks secured a dominant 105-91 home victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, marking Tom Thibodeau’s 223rd win as the Knickerbockers head coach.
The victory tied Thibodeau with legendary coach Pat Riley for the fourth-most wins by a head coach in Knicks history.
“I think all that stuff, it’s a byproduct of having great players. You share that with your team,” said Thibodeau following Tuesday’s win. “So all the individual stuff, it’s really not that important. Obviously (I) have great respect for Pat Riley and certainly Jeff for what they’ve done in their careers, [and] the history of the franchise, great coaches, great players, organizationally, what it represents; it’s an honor to be here.”
Currently tied with Riley, Thibodeau is 25 wins behind tying Jeff Van Gundy for No. 3 overall on the list.
Although he’s about to be surpassed with regular-season wins, Riley still holds an edge over Thibodeau in playoff wins, sitting third behind Red Holzman and Jeff Van Gundy with 35. Thibodeau, currently at 15, looks to build on that total this spring.
In his fifth season as the Knicks head coach, the 67-year-old has compiled a 223-170 regular-season record, including a 14-15 record in the playoffs, while snapping the organization’s seven-year postseason skid during the 2020-2021 season.
Thibodeau has the opportunity to claim sole possession of fourth place tonight as the Knicks travel to Cleveland to face the 60-15 Cavaliers at 7 p.m. ET.
However, for Thibs, milestones matter less than the players who made them possible as he shifts his focus to guiding the Knicks on a deep playoff run this spring.
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