NBA
Knicks coach praises team for improving year after year, promises to return stronger
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated02 Jun 2025
As the Knicks were eliminated by the Pacers on Saturday evening, the franchise has been left again without a title, something they’ve been waiting for over 50 years. However, they still progressed a lot since last year, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000.
If we analyze their performances in recent time, New York has been improving year after year. “So it’s improvement from last year, but it’s ultimately not what our ultimate goal is,” said coach Tom Thibodeau, who has led the charge to the conference finals following consecutive second-round exits.
However, Indiana has been their executioners in recent times. “You make the moves to win, so it hurts to not be able to bring an opportunity to the city for a championship,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We’ve got a bunch of great guys in that locker room and the plan now is just to put ourselves in this position again and succeed next time.”
Truth is, we’ve become used to seeing the Knicks as title contenders, having won 50 games in back-to-back seasons and made the postseason in four of five under coach Thibodeau. After facing elimination, the feeling around the New York camp is that they will get another shot very soon.
“The most confidence. Overconfident,” Jalen Brunson responded when asked if he was confident the Knicks had a squad that could conquer a championship. “Seriously. There’s not an ounce of any type of doubt that I’m not confident with this group.”
One thing for sure is that the Manhattan club will regret the fact that they lost their first game at home, as they were unable to recover after blowing away a 14-point lead in the final 2:45 minutes of the game. “And so I think the challenge for us is to look at it for what it is,” Thibodeau said.
He then added: “And it’s, we finished in the top three, but we’re falling short of the ultimate goal, and so for us it’s to use that for motivation and determination to work all summer to prepare ourselves to make the final step and keep improving so we can achieve our goal.”
