Knicks at Magic: Tom Thibodeau Rants on Refs, 'Sick and Tired' of Jalen Brunson Getting 'Hammered'

Following a Friday loss to the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau went on the warpath against officials on behalf of point guard Jalen Brunson.

Orlando was anything but the happiest place on Earth for Jalen Brunson, Tom Thibodeau, and the New York Knicks on Friday night.

Behind a dominant performance from the Orlando Magic's homegrown triumvirate of Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs, and Franz Wagner, the Knicks were dealt a 117-108 defeat at Kia Center. With the loss, the Knicks (17-14) threaten to limp into the new calendar year ... literally and figuratively.

New York lost consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 5-8 and has dropped each of the first two legs of a 2023-closing road trip that wraps up on Saturday in Indiana (7 p.m. ET, MSG). Though they trailed by as much as 20 and shot 6-of-30 from three-point range, the Knicks got back into the game with penetration, visiting Kia Center's foul lines 29 times.

The Knicks felt like there should've been more.

“It’s just not consistent, man,” Julius Randle, the Knicks' clear Friday star with 38 points, said, of officiating, per Steve Popper of Newsday. “That’s all I can say. It’s just not. It’s not consistent.”

Thibodeau took things a step further in his own postgame comments, as he was particularly peeved about the way officials have treated Brunson. 

"What this guy is going through is ridiculous," Thibodeau said, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. "You’re getting hammered time after time, I’m just getting sick and tired of it."

Mike Watters, USA TODAY SPORTS

The Knicks' primary point guard made something out of nothing on Friday, making up for a brutal night from the field (4-of-15, 0-of-4 from three-point range) by getting to the foul line a dozen times and sinking all of the single-point opportunities. But several calls, or lack thereof, changed the course of the game and stifled a Knicks comeback before it could truly get rolling.

Replays vindicated Thibodeau on several occasions, particularly two crucial moments in the fourth quarter: a Brunson and-one opportunity (one that would've cut the Orlando lead to eight with just under five minutes remaining) was snuffed out when Suggs clearly tugged on the back of his jersey. Suggs and Goga Bitadze later appeared to hack Brunson as he tried to chew further into the lead, which had gotten down to six. But the no-call led to an Orlando fastbreak that ended in a dunk for Bitadze, a reserve center filling in for Wendell Carter Jr.

Bitadze was charged with a technical for knocking Brunson down in his post-slam jubilation. But that was far from enough to appease Thibodeau, who hinted that he has tried to speak to the NBA about its treatment of Brunson in the past.

"I watch, I send it in. I see it all and ... they’re fouls. It’s plain and simple, they’re fouls and there’s no other way to say it, except they’re fouls," Thibodeau said in Botte's report. "They’re fouls. No one drives the ball more to the rim than this guy does and if you rake across his arm, you rake across his arm and if you hit him in the head, you hit him in the head. 

"Those are fouls. Those are fouls, sick and tired of it, sick and tired of it.” 

While Brunson has drawn particular praise for his outside shooting this season, has upped his penetration since joining the Knicks last season: over the year-plus, Brunson has averaged 5.8 free throw attempts a game after getting only two over his first four years in Dallas. 

For his part, Brunson himself no doubt appreciated Thibodeau going to verbal war for him, but embraced his own role in the Knicks' latest defeat.

Florida Men Hold Off Knicks As Magic Conjure Victory

“Shots are not going to fall, but with that being said, it still was a winnable game,” Brunson said in another Botte report. “There were things we could have done on the defensive side of the ball and still figure out how to impact the game without making our shots."

“It was still possible. The ball’s going to go in some nights and some nights it’s not.”

To that point, the Knicks shot a mere 36 percent from the field (22-of-61) beyond a 16-of-25 performance for leading scorer Randle.