Tom Thibodeau coaches 300th Knicks game. Will he reach 420?

New York did on Sunday what they had not done since 2008: complete two different games in which they once limited an opponent to fewer than 75 points... only to then go and score fewer than 75 points themselves.

They stopped Orlando’s count at 74 on Friday, but then the Knicks couldn’t get past scoring 73 (yikes) points against the Sixers on Sunday. What a weekend; see it to believe it!

Sunday, however, was remarkable for an entirely different and mostly under-the-radar reason: head coach Tom Thibodeau coached his 300th regular-season game (s/o @NBA_NewYork) for the New York Knicks professional basketball organization. Hooray!

That, my friends, is no joke considering how things have gone for the franchise since they flipped the calendar page from ‘99 to Y2K.

Thibs has coached more games this century than any other head coach operating from the Garden touchline, and by the end of the season, he’ll be just 10 games short of reaching Pat Riley (328) and 102 from Jeff Van Gundy’s figure (420).

If you’re just average at math, then you will be good at calculating how many games (and approximate time, for that matter) will take Thibs to catch JVG. That’s 82 regular-season games next season, and then 20 more on top of that.

Photo by Smiley N. Pool/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

It’s fair to assume Thibs has already earned the right to coach this team next season barring something incredibly weird happening from now to the end of the playoffs, let alone considering the absolute disaster the Knicks and their coach have had to navigate all year with multiple injuries ravaging the roster for the largest part of the season.

Will Thibs get past another full season as the head coach of the Knicks... and get 20+ games in the 2025-26 campaign under his belt? That’s an entirely different beast.

Throughout Sunday’s loss, Thibodeau has a combined 162-138 regular-season record since he was hired ahead of the 2020 season. He has coached 16 postseason games boasting a 7-11 record having one round victory, the first one for New York in 10 years.

Staying with the Knicks for 20 games past next season (and the playoffs, let’s hope) would take us around, approximately, the start of December 2025.

Will Thibodeau be coaching the Knicks then and for long enough to match—or surpass—JVG’s 240 games, becoming the NYK head coach with the third-most such appearances? What do you think?

Only time will tell, but for now, feel free to weigh in and make your best guess!