Kevin Garnett wants Knicks stars to confront stubborn Tom Thibodeau over minutes worries

Two of the top players Tom Thibodeau ever coached – and the two players probably most responsible for his NBA championship – believe he’s being “stubborn” with his minutes distribution and it’s going to cost the Knicks in the playoffs.“At some point, you got staff, you got assistants, you got a GM, you got presidents (who should tell Thibodeau to stop playing the starters so much),” Kevin Garnett said on his podcast, “Ticket & The Truth,” co-hosted by Paul Pierce.“And, it’s a data league, bro.Data is probably telling you, ‘Hey, the starting 5 is playing way more minutes than the average starting 5 in the league.

So I’m sure he’s heard this.It goes back to what Paul just said – (Thibodeau) is so stuck in his ways and he knows how to win one way, man.”The conversation about Thibodeau turned into a story from their time together in Boston, when the current Knicks coach was a Celtics assistant helping guide the franchise to the 2008 championship.

Garnett got into an argument with Thibodeau, who the power forward believed was pushing the players too hard in a drill.Garnett went for the deep cut by telling Thibodeau, “You’re never going to be a head coach,” and, according to Pierce, “It was like two alphas standing up right there and I was like, ‘Thibs ain’t backing down, I know Ticket ain’t backing down.’ But he’s stubborn though sometimes.

I think he gets stubborn.“He’s a great coach, don’t put nothing in that way,” Pierce added.“But sometimes he gets stuck in his ways and is stubborn.”Garnett suggested the Knicks stars take a similar approach with Thibodeau.“My only problem with a lot of the traditional stuff, it doesn’t download the latest update.

Our league is high-paced.…Scores are 130 to 140 (points).

The average is 120.That is All-Star (Game) s–t.

The pace of the league is the reason why we’re looking at it like that,” Garnett said.“On top of that, no one has told Thibs – in...