From Marc Berman:
Tom Thibodeau soared into the All-Star break smiling and owning a winning record.
The Knicks whipped the Pistons, 114-104, Thursday to enter the All-Star break on an 8-3 spree, a 19-18 record overall and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks haven’t owned a winning record this late in a season since the 54-win, 2012-13 campaign.
With chants of “Let’s Go Knicks’’ from the 2,000 strong on hand at the Garden, they clobbered the Eastern Conference-worst Pistons for the second time in four days, making sure to take advantage on what has been a soft patch of the schedule recently.
Asked what he planned to do during the All-Star break, the hard-driving Thibodeau broke into a smile and joked, “You know me, Turks and Caicos.’’
Nah, there’s no Carribbean beach laying ahead for Thibodeau, though the Knicks first-year coach has earned at least a couple of days of respite.
“I’ll get some time with my family, just relax and recharge a little bit and then get ready for the second half,’’ Thibodeau said.
Of the Knicks’ last eight victories, seven have come against clubs well below .500 (Washington, Houston, Atlanta, Minnesota, Sacramento and Detroit).
“Last year those games were a tossup,’’ said first-time All-Star Julius Randle. “This year we’re handling business when we’re supposed to. That’s always encouraging, taking care of what you’re supposed to. It’s definitely helped us get in the position that we’re in right now.’’
Indeed, after seven years as the league’s laughingstocks, the Knicks will take it. Whether they can keep it up when play resumes is another story.
It’s not even that Berman is wrong, exactly, but that seems like a rather dour way to look at it. For now, we should just celebrate that the Knicks are .500 at the All-Star break!
It’s a fun situation to see them in.