The team s 25-year-old head coach, the King of Five Donkeys, was dismissed! There is a record that ranks first in the coaching list

After the toughest playoffs in 25 years, the New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau today.

Three days ago, the Knicks were eliminated from the Eastern Conference Finals by their long-time rival Indiana Pacers in six games. But at the same time, New York, with its relatively new core player, made progress beyond expectations in the second round by defeating defending champion Boston Celtics.

Tibodd surpassed Pat Riley earlier this season to rank fourth on the team's victory list, leading the Knicks to 50 consecutive victories for the first time since 1995. He has been the club's most successful coach for the past two decades and has renewed his contract with the team for three years last summer.

"Our organization is particularly focused on winning championships for our fans," team president Leon Ross said in a statement. "This pursuit prompted us to decide to inform Tom Thibodeau that we decided to move in another direction." Tom poured all his efforts into every day as head coach of the New York Knicks, and we were grateful for it.

"... Finally, we made the decision that we thought would be the best for our organization to move forward. Tom will always be part of our Knicks family and we sincerely wish him all the best in the future."

Tibodd has a long history in the Knicks, dating back to the 1990s, when he was an assistant coach for Jeff Van Gundy. Rick Brunson is one of Thibodeau’s assistant coaches, who played for the Knicks and often brought his son Jaren – now the team’s superstar – to practice and play.

Jaylen Brunson was asked about Thibodeau's position after the team's season defeat at Indiana.

"Are you really asking this question now? You just asked me if I believe he is the right person? Yes. Come on."

Despite the Knicks losing four games against the Celtics in the regular season, three of which lost double-digits, and the Knicks' roster was adjusted, the Knicks beat the Celtics.

Bonus win-win deal: Downs

After trading Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota for the NBA best center Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks' front office gave away five first-round picks for Brooklyn Wing Mikal Bridges. These trades have reduced the depth of the Knicks, but the team's five starters are the most talented in the league.

Tibodeau has long been known for letting the main players play a lot of time, although the league uses more rest in this age of load management—rely relying heavily on his starting fives to make them play more than any other NBA fives.

New York is the third stop of the senior coach coaching in the NBA. Prior to coaching the Knicks, he coached the Chicago Bulls (2010-15) and the Minnesota Gray Wolves (2016-19).

According to ESPN research, as a head coach, his winning rate is 0.579, the highest of all coaches in NBA history to not enter the Finals (coaching at least 300 games).