Tom Thibodeau praises Barrett after benching late in Game 2: ‘RJ is key to the team’
NEW YORK — It was a gutsy call — a decision Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau stands by as his team travels to Miami for Games 3 and 4 of their second-round playoff against the Heat.
It doesn’t matter how hot a player is offensively. If he’s hurting the group on the other end of the ball, Thibodeau will have a quick hook.
It happened in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ five-point, series-tying victory over the Heat in Game 2 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.
Forward RJ Barrett was on a heater from downtown, hitting four of his first six 3-pointers on the night and finishing on a 5-of-9 clip from downtown.
But as Barrett struggled to get stops defensively in the fourth quarter, often letting Miami’s Gabe Vincent get shots off at will, Thibodeau made the decision to bench his fourth-year wing in favor of defense: He brought starter Josh Hart back into the game to close the quarter and rode defensive-minded wing Quentin Grimes for the remainder of regulation.
“You’re doing the things you think are going to help you win the game. Again they’re tough decisions,” Thibodeau said of the decision to sit Barrett the final seven minutes of Tuesday’s victory. “So we’re asking everyone to sacrifice and put the team first. So sometimes it’s just the way the defense was unfolding, the way they’re shooting the three, I thought we had to contain the ball and get back to people. So the group that was in there I thought gave us the best chance of doing that.”
Thibodeau suggested the Knicks had a better flow defensively with Grimes in the game over Barrett.
“Just defensively, I felt very good,” he said. “I think the more he plays, the more the rhythm will come. I thought we created good shots and good rhythm. So I think we made 16 threes today. It was a byproduct of people working together to create those shots.”
The issue, of course, is not killing Barrett’s confidence in getting stops down the stretch. It’s also rewarding the hot-shooting forward for his timely shot-making.
Barrett had been benched in the fourth quarter a number of times during the regular season, but the five 3s he hit in Game 2 marked the most he’s hit in any game this season.
In fact, the Knicks’ forward is averaging 25 points per game on 48.6% shooting from the field and 43% shooting from downtown through the two opening games of this second-round series.
Thibodeau has played this card before with other players: He’s benched both stars Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle in crunch-time minutes in the past — including Randle’s fourth-quarter benching for the closeout Game 5 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.
He’s always going to ride the group that gives the Knicks the best chance to win — even if it doesn’t include a familiar starting face — and especially if that closing unit has five sound defenders on the court.
“Just the way the game unfolded. That’s all,” Thibodeau said. “Look, RJ is playing terrific for us. Sometimes you need a different matchup. So we get the matchup, and we get going and got into a little bit of a rhythm. So we wanted to ride it out, and that’s all we did.
“RJ is key to the team. I’ve asked the same from Jalen and Julius, all those guys sacrifice and put the team first. We’re not worried about anything but winning games.”
