Tom Thibodeau doesn’t care about the lingering hurt feelings of the opposition.
The former Bulls coach isn’t concerned that Damian Lillard broke hearts throughout the United Center 48 hours earlier.
Much like a shark is singular-minded in hunting for food, Thibodeau’s focus is on winning basketball games. And both are good at recognizing blood in the water.
No wonder veteran forward Thad Young was putting out a warming to all of his Bulls teammates.
Thibodeau and his New York Knicks are coming to town for two games starting on Monday, and if there’s any sulking still going on because of the Portland loss or there’s any ideas of it somehow being an easy week because of the Knicks’ seemingly subpar roster? That mess better be left at home ASAP.
“Preparing for a team that’s going to be very, very tough, that’s going to come in and get after it on the defensive side of the basketball, and they’re not just going to be tough on the defensive side, they’re going to be tough on the offensive side also just because Tom has coached some teams with a lot of physicality, and we have to come out and be ready to take punches,’’ Young said after the Sunday practice. “But every punch that we take we have to throw three back. So for us it’s just about us coming out and opposing our will on the game early and making sure our presence is felt from get-go.’’
A philosophy that this group has had trouble putting into practice far too many times this season.
Yes, it was a step towards improvement to come back from 19 points down in the third quarter against the Trail Blazers to seemingly have the game in hand with 11 seconds left, but Young’s point was don’t allow yourself to get down 19 points because of lethargic play.
Then Lillard can’t be a hero.
“We can’t have mental lapses in quarters like that which puts us in a deep, deep hole, but we’ve just got to continue to play,’’ Young said. “We’ve got to continue to lock in and fight through adverse situations. We are beginning to get there, but we haven’t turned the corner because we haven’t translated it into wins.’’
It’s a safe bet that Thibodeau doesn’t want them to start at his expense.
Since his firing from the Bulls in 2015, Thibodeau has faced his former organization four times – all with the Timberwolves. He’s 3-1 in those games.
As much as he’ll downplay another meeting with the Bulls this week, he’d love nothing more than to extend that record to 5-1 by Wednesday night.
The difference is on paper this Knicks roster looks like easy pickings for the Bulls. That’s where Thibodeau-coached teams are deceiving.
New York is 9-12 on the season, with impressive wins over Milwaukee, Indiana, Atlanta, Utah and Boston.
The Bulls are 7-11, and four of those victories have come against Washington and Dallas.
If Zach LaVine and Co. want to start being taken seriously for a shot at an Eastern Conference play-in game, beating teams like New York would be a good place to start.
Coach Billy Donovan knows that won’t be easy, especially knowing Thibodeau like he does.
“Thibs used to come up and watch us practice when I was a player at Providence,’’ Donovan said. “He was a college coach back then and he would come up and he’d watch practice. And then got friendly with him because Jeff Van Gundy coached me in college, so he developed a relationship with Jeff, and then he worked with Jeff in Houston and Doc Rivers … But I’ve known Thibs for a while he’s a great guy.’’
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Tom Thibodeau’s back, and Bulls better clean up the blood in the water - Chicago Sun-Times
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