Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau admitted one thing Austin Rivers never lacked in his career was confidence, and Rivers put that on full display Wednesday night against the Jazz.
Thibodeau has spent enough time around Doc Rivers coaching together to have seen how Doc’s son, Austin, can catch fire on the offensive end.
“I’ve seen him do that before,” Thibs said after the game. “When he gets going like that, he’s hard to stop. He’s got a lot of toughness to him. Mental toughness, physical toughness, the courage to take those shots.”
Rivers went on a tear in the 4th quarter, scoring 14 straight points and icing the game his first time as a Knick at MSG.
“I love this stage,’’ Rivers said. “Every player says that when they come here, but I really do. I thrive on it. You have to be ok with missing a shot, making the wrong play. If you have the ball in your hands at the end of the game, you can’t worry about the makes and misses. You have to trust yourself and live with the outcome.”
Rivers said he’s been feeling the positive energy from the fans and is excited for their return to the stands.
“Oh man, I can’t imagine,” Rivers said. “I can’t wait, I can’t wait. They’re gonna be here, soon enough. We just gotta keep building and getting better for them. We’ve been feeling the positive energy. It’s early, we’re 5-3, we have a lot of work to do. We haven’t done anything yet, but we gotta keep building.”
Through seven games the Knicks are proving their toughness is legit and they don’t back down no matter how large the deficit. A lot of credit goes to coach Thibodeau for instilling this mindset.
Growth on full display
“No lead is safe and no deficit is impossible to overcome,” Thibs said after the game. “We strive to be a 48-minute team…We believe because of the way we work we can overcome things.”
Julius Randle is playing the best basketball of his career under Thibodeau and said the growth of the team is amazing.
“It’s a lot of fun, honestly man,” Randle said. “It’s unfortunate that we can’t have our fans in here to experience the energy of this team. But we’re all out there just playing hard, playing for each other, it’s just amazing. It’s amazing the growth of our team.”
Randle finished the game with 30 points and 16 boards and Rivers ended with 23 points on 9-14 from the field.
“I’ve been on bad teams before and this isn’t one,” Rivers said. “I promise you that. I don’t know where we wind up. But I do know the spirit is there, the willingness to work and learn is different. The coaching is different. This is not the Knicks team y’all have been covering,” he added.
The Knicks take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday at MSG. They’ll look to scrap together their 4th win a row and continue their hot start to the season.
Stay tuned to knicksfantv.com for the latest Knicks news and rumors throughout the season. CP and J. Ellis had a monster live stream after the Knicks vs. Jazz game Wednesday night. Check it out below.
