In a bit of a surprise, the New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau after the team's conference finals loss to the Indiana Pacers. Thibodeau had spent five seasons as New York's head coach and won the Coach of the Year award in 2021. However, the Knicks ultimately decided to move on from Thibodeau, who may have just learned a valuable lesson from Rick Carlisle and the Pacers.
One of Thibodeau's most unique strategies is that he does not rely on bench utilization too much. Instead, he typically plays his starters as much as he can. This is a risky move, and it is one that may have cost him his job in New York. On the flip side, Carlisle does the exact opposite for the Pacers. He uses his bench players and relies on his depth more than the average coach might. There are some risks involved with this strategy as well, but it has worked well for Indiana so far as they are just four wins away from a championship.
Rick Carlisle has been excellent this postseason
Despite entering the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, the Pacers are in the NBA Finals and pulled off a major upset in the second round when they sent the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers home in five games. Most of that credit belongs to the players who stepped up, but Carlisle's style certainly played a major role. Furthermore, he has done a fantastic job of coming up with a gameplan for each series and getting the most out of his players in order to execute it.
What makes Carlisle different than Thibodeau is his ability to adapt and also experiment with his rotations. Carlisle has done a great job of getting the Pacers to play to their strength and maximize their minutes. This has been crucial to Indiana's success all season, and it is a big reason they are now in the NBA Finals.
Regardless of the expectations, the Pacers are in the NBA Finals and have a legitimate chance to bring home their first-ever NBA title. As the Pacers look to pull off what most would consider another upset against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, it will be interesting to see what rotations Carlisle puts out on the court. After all, it has been huge to their success in the playoffs, and it indirectly may have ended Thibodeau's tenure in New York.