The New York Knicks are back in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years.

Notably, they’re going to play the same team that beat them on that stage.

On paper, they’re the better team.

But we’ve seen paper be meaningless so many times in the past.

With that in mind, Mike Francesa offered Tom Thibodeau a piece of advice.

In the latest edition of his podcast, he urged Thibodeau to trust his second unit, especially Mitchell Robinson:

“The Knicks outscored the Celtics in this series, dramatically when Robinson was on the floor,” he said.

“The Knicks outscored the Celtics in this series, dramatically when Robinson was on the floor.”@MikeFrancesa says Tom Thibodeau needs to trust his bench in the Eastern Conference Final 🏀 pic.twitter.com/TirISFq9fJ

— The Mike Francesa Podcast (@FrancesaPodcast) May 18, 2025

However, that’s just not the way Thibodeau handles business, so that piece of advice will most likely go unnoticed.

He has a long and well-documented history of running his players into the ground, especially when things aren’t going his way.

He doesn’t trust his rookies or his bench players, and instead of trying to make adjustments, he will continue to roll with five or six players until they figure things out.

That has rarely worked for him in the playoffs, and it has often led to exhaustion and injuries.

Hopefully, that won’t be the case this time around.

The Indiana Pacers are a deep team that will roll with nine or 10 players night in and night out, and the Knicks won’t be able to keep up with their fast pace if they don’t give the starters a breather every now and then.

These will be the most important games in modern franchise history, and Thibodeau will be in the eye of the storm and heavily scrutinized during this series.

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