Thanks to Rick Brunson and Tom Thibodeau, Salem's perspective on Celtics-Knicks isn't so clear

Boston Globe

12-05-2025

The coach didn't know if he could get Brunson to join him.
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Tom Thibodeau just wanted to beat him.
'His story is he used to kill me,' Brunson
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According to comments made by both, those ferocious fights on the blacktop started a partnership that now threatens the playoff life of the Celtics.
Brunson, the former NBA journeyman and
'I don't think anyone remembers me as a former player,' mused Brunson, who played for eight NBA teams in nine seasons, including a seven-game stint with the Celtics in 2000 where he wore the same No. 40 that Thibodeau wore at Salem State. 'They remember me as Jalen's Dad.'
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It's different in the Witch City.
Glory days
Salem High School's Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse looks mostly the same as it did in Brunson's day. It's big, bright, and airy. The court is rubber, not hardwood, and laid double-thick over a cement floor, which is to say there's no give. Players have to work hard for their bounces.
'I'd be there every chance I got,' said Nate Bryant, who refereed some of Brunson's games and retired last April as Salem State's vice president. 'He was an attraction. He was a star in every sense of the word.'
In the team lounge last week, Salem High boys' basketball coach Tom Doyle tapped and swiped a video board, taking a visitor 35 years back in time. In grainy footage, edited in sync with WESX-AM local radio broadcasts, Brunson, Doyle, and their teammates are stomping teams.
Salem High boys' basketball coach Tom Doyle played high school basketball at Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse with New York Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson when both were students at Salem High.
Matt Porter
Salem High went 89-8 with Brunson leading the show, with four Northeastern Conference titles. The 1990 team, which beat Gardner for the Division 2 state title at the Worcester Centrum, captured Salem's first crown since 1926. A few years back,
Brunson, who then went by Eric, put up 34 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 steals in that junior-year postseason. As a senior, he averaged 33.4 points, 12 boards, 10.2 assists, and 6 steals. He was East MVP of the McDonald's All-American Game, held that year in Springfield.
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He won Globe All-Scholastic Player of the Year both seasons.
He finished with a school-record 1,780 points despite missing some 20 games due to injuries. Scoonie Penn – later of Boston College and Ohio State – passed him a few years after.
'He ate, drank, and slept basketball,' Bryant said. 'Nobody outworked him.'
Rick Brunson, who went by Eric in high school, made the Globe's All-Scholastic team twice.
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Doyle tried to. Playing for rival middle schools, they became fast friends after Brunson moved in from Syracuse in the seventh grade. Doyle's father, Peter, was principal at Bates Elementary, in North Salem near the Brunsons' home, and would unlock the door often.
'Morning, noon, or night,' Doyle said. 'He'd spent a lot of the summer there. He would go down three times a day. He certainly had the drive.'
In his NBA stints, Brunson lasted a maximum of 97 games with one team (Portland, where he scored a career-high 19 points in 16 minutes) and spent as little as three (Toronto). In that, Doyle said, 'he saw what it took. He came up with a great blueprint for Jalen to succeed, if he wanted to.'
The younger, smaller Brunson has his father's fire and a far more lethal skillset.
'I don't even think he's 6-feet tall, but he's so smart. He's two or three steps ahead,' Bryant said. 'Think about it: other than Steph Curry, who can shoot, there's not a lot of players that size who score 20-plus. Just a smart, heady player, and there's no doubt where it comes from.'
All-in on basketball
Thibodeau scored 26 points per game as a junior in 1979-80, when Salem State made the NCAA Division 3 tournament for the first time. He coached there four seasons after graduating, and was the Vikings' rookie head coach in 1984-85.
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When he arrived from New Britain, Conn., he moved in across the street from the Doyles in South Salem, near campus. He would come over and shoot. When the young coach invited Doyle to his Salem State basketball camp, Doyle's future came into focus.
Thibodeau's reputation as a basketball junkie with few other interests has been stated, and possibly exaggerated. 'One of our friends used to say to him: 'Thibs, there are only so many ways you can defend a screen and roll. Come out and have a beer,'' Don Doucette, his college coach,
Tom Thibodeau has been the Knicks' coach since 2020.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Bryant, who played for Thibodeau at Salem State, recalled some busy Thursday nights lacking Thibodeau's presence. But as some of his college friends have chuckled over the years, the guy who hardly stopped anyone on 'D' has become a defensive mastermind.
'When guys were out at the watering holes, Thibs was at home with his VHS tapes,' Bryant said. 'Some coaches know someone who knows someone, and they get a break. He didn't know anyone. He wrote letters to coaches and teams. He studied film. He sent them things.
'Nothing was handed to him. I will always appreciate that.'
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Still connected
Walking the Salem High halls the day after
'Not even a thought,' he said, smiling, when asked if the Celtics' pair of blown 20-point leads gave him pause when putting it on. 'It made it better to walk in here today.'
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Doyle keeps an eye on the Knicks' schedule when he charts the Witches' yearly course. Brunson makes at least one seven-hour round trip from New York every year to watch them play, and has guided heaps of players over the years.
Salem High boys' basketball coach Tom Doyle was a member of the school's 1990 state championship team that also included New York Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson.
Matt Porter
He has also contributed, the coach said, when the athletics budget is running dry.
'His give-back,' Doyle said, 'is much more than money.'
But like a Salem hardcourt, he doesn't give in. After sophomore
The reply came fast: 'Forty-six through three quarters.'
Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson (second from right) and his high school teammate Tom Doyle (second from left) were joined by Mike Giardi (left) and Pedro Jimenez at a recent Celtics-Knicks game.
Tom Doyle
Matt Porter can be reached at