Tom Thibodeau likes to keep the focus on basketball. Do what it takes to win every single day is one of his favorite phrases. Give the game everything you’ve got is another, and strive to get better each day is a third. Thibodeau has done all three since taking over as head coach at Madison Square Garden in 2021. Now he finds himself ready to overtake a legend on the Knicks’ all-time franchise leaderboard. The Knicks defeated the depleted Philadelphia 76ers, 105-91, at The Garden on Tuesday marking victory No. 223 for Thibodeau since assuming the responsibility of turning around a New York franchise mired in a seven-year postseason drought. The victory tied him with franchise coaching legend Pat Riley, who owns the fourth-most victories in Knicks history. Red Holzman’s long-standing record of 613 wins amassed in 1,096 games of Knicks playoff contention between 1968-1982 seems uncatchable. Joe Lapchick’s mark of 326 wins between 1948-56 ranks second, and Jeff Van Gundy sits third with 248 victories in a seven-year span. “I think all that stuff, it’s a byproduct of having great players. You share that with your team,” said Thibodeau. “So all the individual stuff, it’s really not that important. Obviously have great respect for Pat Riley and certainly Jeff for what they’ve done in their careers but the history of the franchise, great coaches, great players, organizationally – what it represents – it’s an honor to be here.” To get to victory No. 224 and tie Riley, Thibodeau had to get past a ghost of seasons past: former Knicks guard Quentin Grimes. The Knicks selected Grimes with the 25th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, but three seasons into his rookie deal, the three-and-D grew frustrated with his role, frequently off the ball as a floor-spacer and perimeter defender. The Knicks went on to trade their prospect to the Detroit Pistons as part of the Bojan Bodanovic-Alec Burks deal last season. Grimes has been a frequent flyer ever since. The Pistons turned around and traded him to the Dallas Mavericks as part of the Tim Hardaway Jr. trade during the offseason. Then the Mavericks moved on from Grimes and sent him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caleb Martin ahead at the Feb. 6 NBA Trade Deadline. But the 76ers got more than they bargained for. With Martin’s consistent injury history, Philadelphia merely expected Grimes to be a rotation player capable of playing minutes on a Sixers team missing each of its franchise cornerstones (Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey) plus the large share of their normal rotation (Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Jared McCain). On a team in need of offense, Grimes answered the bell as a top scorer in the month of March, tying Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards for 11th in scoring at 26.6 points per game. Which brings us to Grimes’ return to The Garden on Tuesday, his second time back on his old stomping grounds since the deal shuttled him out last February. The former Knicks guard had already put up a dud in a Feb. 26 matchup at MSG, scoring just three points on 1-of-4 shooting in a five-point Sixers loss. Plus he cooled off in the two games prior to Tuesday’s matchup against the Knicks with 22 points on just 6-of-16 shooting in a loss to the league-worst Washington Wizards on Wednesday, followed by 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting in the Sixers’ Friday loss to the Miami Heat. Grimes scored in bunches against the Knicks on Tuesday and finished with a team-high 26 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, 1-of-6 shooting from the three-point line and 9-of-10 from the foul line. On one possession, he intercepted an errant pass from Knicks forward Precious Achiuwa, scored on an easy fast break dunk, then had some words for the Knicks coaching staff on his way back up the floor on the defensive end. “He’s had great moments in the league. He’s playing, he’s got great rhythm,” Thibodeau said of Grimes ahead of tipoff on Tuesday. “He can shoot the ball, he can put it on the floor, he’s dangerous in transition. He’s making good plays off the dribble, defensively, he’s terrific. Very dangerous player in the open floor.” “The biggest thing is he’s on the court all the time. We’re in a situation where he’s playing about as much as he can handle, you know, like, probably sometimes you go over that point sometimes,” added 76ers head coach Nick Nurse. “Then obviously, lots of opportunity on the offensive end to just kind of go do what he can do.” “Been super impressed with just his one on one, the ability to get clearance, get shots, and get space,” the coach continued. “And also mix in some high-efficiency — like he’ll get all the way to the rim. He’ll dunk on you. He’ll just shoot the threes. He’ll create his own shot, pretty good. So I’ve been pretty impressed with that.” The Knicks weren’t only without their three point guards on Tuesday. Karl-Anthony Towns (left knee soreness) joined Jalen Brunson (right ankle sprain), Miles McBride (groin strain) and Cameron Payne (ankle) on the Knicks’ injury report. In Towns’ absence, Mitchell Robinson got the start on his 27th birthday and finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks against the 76ers, the most productive stat line he’s had since his return from offseason ankle surgery. “I feel great. All the hard work I put in to get back to the team. It felt good to be back,” he said in his walk-off interview. “The work’s not done yet. Still got a lot of work to keep going but I’m gonna take it day by day.” OG Anunoby finished with a game-high 27 points against Nurse, his former head coach during his time with the Toronto Raptors. Landry Shamet added a season-high 20 points on six-of-nine shooting from three-point range off the bench, and Delon Wright, starting in place of Brunson, McBride and Payne, finished with 12 points and three steals on the night. Tuesday’s victory was the first leg of a back-to-back, one of three sets of back-to-backs over New York’s final eight games. Next up, the Knicks travel to Cleveland to face the East’s No. 1-seeded Cavaliers. Both Robinson, who is coming off of a 10-month layoff after offseason surgery, and Towns (left knee) have uncertain statuses for the matchup. ...read more read less