Mike Francesa shreds Tom Thibodeau after Knicks' playoff loss to Pistons: ‘This is not an offense'
The former WFAN great criticized coach Tom Thibodeau's offensive scheme, which he believes is too centered on point guard Jalen Brunson and is holding them back.
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'The stagnant four guys watching one guy play basketball is not an offense, and I don't care what your name is,' Francesa said on his Bet Rivers podcast after Monday's game. 'And Brunson is not Michael Jordan.'
Brunson tallied one-third of the team's 81 shots from the floor in Monday's 100-94 home loss, scoring 37 points in 44 minutes on 12-of-27 shooting.
He made 9-of-11 attempts from the foul line.
Mikal Bridges added 19 points and the three other starters each tallied 10, but the bench provided just eight points with Game 1 hero Cameron Payne notably playing just four minutes.
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'If this offense is just going to be Brunson bouncing the basketball for 15 seconds and then if he's double-teamed he'll flip a pass to somebody and hope they hit a long 3, or he's going to find a way to get to the foul line. Dive against a guy and get free shots. Flop to the ground,' Francesa said.
'How many times in one night is Brunson on the ground? 32? It's not appealing basketball. It's all about Brunson. Why do you think the other teams think he flops? He's on the ground the whole game. That's half the Knicks' offense.'
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Francesa adds that it doesn't matter if the Knicks advance past the Pistons because if 'four guys are going to be standing around watching Brunson, you're never going to beat a good team. You're never going to beat the Celtics.'
The winner of the Knicks-Pistons series will face the victor from the Celtics-Magic. Boston, the defending champs, is heavily favored and easily took Game 1 of the series with Game 2 on Wednesday night.
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4 Mike Francesa projected that Jalen Brunson fell to the ground 32 times on Monday night.
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The Sports Pope would prefer the Knicks to feed the ball to Karl-Anthony Towns, especially with the Pistons missing Isaiah Stewart Monday.
Towns only scored 10 points in Game 2 and bizarrely did not attempt a shot in the fourth quarter.
'How can Thibs be there, be coaching that game, and not get the ball in the low box to Towns at some point?' Francesa asked. 'Towns had eight points in the first quarter. He had 10 points in the game.'
4 Mike Francesa unloads on Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau.
YouTube Mike Francesa Podcast
Thibodeau and Towns shifted blame elsewhere for the poor performances and loss, with Thibodeau taking aim at the referees for a significant discrepancy in free throws
Detroit received 34 free throw attempts compared to the Knicks' 19.
'Obviously, huge discrepancy in free throws. Huge. I gotta take a look at that, alright?' Thibodeau said after the game. 'So … I don't understand how on one side you talk about direct line drives, the guys get fouled and it's not being called, right? And look, I really don't give a crap how they call the game as long as it's consistent on both sides. So [Cade] Cunningham's driving and there's marginal contact and he's getting to the line. Then Jalen [Brunson] deserves to be getting to the line, it's really that simple.'
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4 Jalen Brunson scored 37 points in the Knicks loss.
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Meanwhile, Towns brought up a lack of execution.
'Just trying to have the game do what it does, just executing what we talked about,' Towns said of his lack of involvement down the stretch. 'I thought we got some great shots, some great looks, you live with those kinds of great shots and great looks, especially when you've fought back in the game.'
4 Tom Thibodeau took issue with the referees on Monday night.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
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The Knicks head to Detroit for Game 3 on Thursday, where they will look to get more guys involved with the Pistons now owning home-court advantage..
'This is not an offense,' Francesa said. 'You can't play this way. There is so much wrong with this game offensively. First of all, the Knicks are better when they move the ball with this team and when they push the ball. They're much better in the open floor when everyone is involved.'
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