Timberwolves 117, Knicks 100: Waiting for good O
In the fifth and final game of their road trip, the Knicks hung tough with the West’s best record in Minnesota, until a third-quarter scoring famine locked in the L
INT. TARGET CENTER
An hour after the Knicks fall 117-100 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tom Thibodeau is courtside, re-watching video of the third quarter on an iPad. It’s his third time watching the Knicks get stuck on 11 points for nearly 11 minutes. Thibodeau, sitting in a chair at the end of the bench, is trying to take off his shoe. He pulls at it with both hands, panting. He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before. Enter Johnnie Bryant, who sits next to Thibodeau.
JOHNNIE BRYANT: Nothing to be done.
TOM THIBODEAU: I'm beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life I've tried to put it from me, saying ‘Tommie, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything.’ And I resumed the struggle. (He broods, musing on the struggle. Turning to Bryant.) So there you are again.
JB: Am I?
TT: May one inquire why our offense was gone?
JB: It really didn’t go anywhere. We made 27 free throws, killed the offensive glass and took 38 threes. Most nights that works. We were taking 36 a game while going 6-1 the last couple weeks. Tonight we only made nine.
TT: We had at least that many rim out.
JB: Quickley def did.
TT: Randle, too.
JB: DiVincenzo.
TT: At least that many.
JB: Probably more.
TT: Those were heavy misses, though.
JB: Meaning?
TT: Minnesota got a lotta length and size. Everywhere. Not just their 7-footers, though any team where the 7-foot, 250-pound Towns isn’t their biggest starter is BIG big. Double-plus big.
JB: Isn’t that Orwell and not Beckett?
TT: Randle tested their bigs early and had zero success, with extreme prejudice. “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” you know?
JB: Now I know that’s not Beckett.
TT: When it was clear he couldn’t post or leverage his size and strength into the kind of off-the-bounce looks he’s used to creating, his 3-pointers had to fall, which put added pressure on them. They didn’t fall. Maybe because of the added pressure. Those became heavy threes. He wasn’t alone. We missed a ton of open looks.
JB: The same lot as usual?
TT: RJ and Brunson combined: 6-of-10. Everybody else: 3-of-28. And Grimes and Hart getting gun-shy isn’t helping.
JB: (gloomily) It's too much for one man.
TT: Or two.
They chuckle, mirthlessly.
TT: (motioning around the arena) Charming spot. Inspiring prospects.
JB: You ever miss being here?
TT: Hard to say. They’re so starved for success; you can’t help feeling happy for them when they’re finally good. Towns may be a cornball and a goofball all rolled into one, but remember this? Early in the third? They get out and run, we seem to have numbers back. How many 7-footers trailing on the break can call this a good shot?
JB: 11-0 run to open the third killed us. You knew Edwards would go off, too. Couldn’t hit a shot in the first half, then comes out on all cylinders after the break..
TT: Once we sent him to the line in the third, he got his stroke back. But it’s not just those too, or even Gobert, though you can see what they’re going for with him and KAT. Who has size to match that pairing?
JB: Maybe Hart shouldn’t be our backup 4 all year.
TT: He won’t. Taj is a free agent.
They nod, knowingly.
TT: But you see their vision. Jaden McDaniels lets them throw length at guards like Brunson. Ant is a brick. Remember when they had KAT, Naz Reid and Kyle Anderson all out there together? Agains Hartenstein and four guards?
JB: I do. I asked you, “Well? What do we do?” And you said, “Don’t let’s do anything. It’s safer. Let's wait till we know exactly how we stand.” Do you remember my answer?
TT: You said, “On the other hand, it might be better to strike the iron before it freezes.”
JB: Mm-hmm.
TT: I don’t think our problem was our offense. (Bryant raises his eyebrows) I mean our offense wasn’t our only problem. They made nearly 70% of their twos and were better on threes, too. They were on pace all night to score around 120.
JB: (his mouth full, vacuously) We’re not tied?
TT: (disgusted) I don’t hear a word you’re saying.
JB: I’m asking you if we’re tied.
TT: We lost by 17!
JB: (swallows) Ti-red. Do you think they’re tired? Sorry, they sell these Soul Bowls here – coconut rice and beans; plantains; jerk chicken. Wow. So good.
TT: How do you mean tired?
JB: Down.
TT: From what?
JB: Traveling. We’ve been on the road. Five games in a little over a week. New England, then down south, then the middle Atlantic, the south again and now Minnesota. Plus it was the Wolves’ first game back home after a long trip for them.
TT: With me it's just the opposite.
JB: Meaning what?
TT: I feel invigorated here. Empowered. Almost like I’m a god, one so revered the people willingly hand over any and all power I desire.
JB: They did. You were the coach and the GM. Remember?
TT: (whispers) That’s not power. That’s the opposite.
JB: (after prolonged reflection) Is that the opposite?
TT: (looks up at the rafters, noting Flip Saunders’ retired #14) The coach and the GM both serve the same master. Power serves no master. (turns to Bryant) Our players aren’t gassed. Tired is a state of mind. If we don’t allow them to think they’re tired, they won’t be. Question of temperament. Of character. Nothing you can do about it. No use struggling. One is what one is. No use wriggling. The essential doesn't change.
JB: Things don’t get any easier. Miami on Friday. The Suns Sunday. (shakes his head)
TT: Ah Johnnie, don't go on like that. (Thibs rises, extends a hand to Bryant to do the same) All we can do is all we can do. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow we’ll be better.
JB: How do you make that out?
TT: Tomorrow we practice.
JB: (chuckles, then nods. Takes Thibs’ hand, then lets it slip. He stands, but takes a few steps away from Thibs) I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been better off alone, each one for himself. (He walks over to Thibodeau’s seat, the head coach’s spot at the end of the bench) We weren't made for the same road. Leon’s always going on about superstars and parades. Your m.o. Is humbler. You bring teams from the basement to respectable. But you’ve never gotten one over the hump. Isn’t that why Minnesota moved on? Isn’t that why sooner or later, everyone does?
TT: (without anger). It's not certain.
JB: No, nothing is certain.
TT: (Thibs slowly sits down beside Bryant) We can still part, if you think it would be better.
JB: It's not worthwhile now.
Silence.
TT: No, it's not worthwhile now.
Silence.
JB: Well, shall we go?
TT: Yes, let's go.
They do not move.
Curtain.
