For 2 ¹/₂ minutes of the most crucial part of this game, Jalen Brunson wasn’t on the court.

And for most of that time, Brunson stood at the scorer’s table — side-by-side with Josh Hart — waiting to check in as <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/29/sports/knicks-game-5-report-card-tom-thibodeau-gets-f-for-mismanagement/">Tom Thibodeau clutched too long to his final timeout</a>.

It was the defining decision of <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/29/sports/knicks-fail-to-close-out-pistons-in-painful-game-5-loss-at-msg/">Tuesday’s 106-103 Knicks defeat to the Pistons</a>, confounding as it unfolded as silence hit the Garden crowd. Thibodeau explained it afterwards as, simply, “coach’s decision.”

<div class="nyp-slideshow-modal-image__wrapper"><a href="#" aria-controls="nyp-slideshow-modal" data-slideshow-modal="trigger" title="Open a slideshow of all 3 article images." aria-label="Open a slideshow of all 3 article images." data-slideshow-slide-number="1" data-slideshow-slides-total="3"> 3 </a></div><figcaption>Tom Thibodeau argues a call during the first half of the Knicks’ 106-103 Game 5 loss to the Pistons. AP</figcaption>

It was the defining decision of Tuesday’s 106-103 Knicks defeat to the Pistons, confounding as it unfolded and explained afterwards by Tom Thibodeau as, simply, “coach’s decision.”{ai:summary}Jalen Brunson sat on the bench for the final 2 ½ minutes of the Knicks' 106-103 loss to the Pistons, waiting to check in as coach Tom Thibodeau opted not to use his last timeout. Thibodeau later described the decision as a "coach's decision," without further elaboration. #sports

Inside Tom Thibodeau’s inexplicable decision that defined the Knicks’ frustrating Game 5 loss

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