Tom Thibodeau’s staff was one of the league’s best during the regular season at challenges.
The New York Knicks have a little-known secret weapon on their bench.
It’s not what you think it is.
It happens seemingly a half-dozen times per game. A soft foul or a 50-50 out-of-bounds play causes an army of players to make a twirling motion with their pointer fingers.
This didn’t exist prior to a few years ago, but when the coach’s challenge was introduced in 2019-20, it was revolutionary for basketball, but simultaneously led to more complaining from players and a common ritual of staring back at the bench asking to use a challenge.
The limits of the challenge system have always irked me. While the NBA has made recent improvements in adding a second challenge if the first is successful, I still have big issues with punishing teams for getting two calls overturned by taking their challenge away instead of punishing the officials postgame for repeatedly getting calls wrong.
Part of it is a strategy in using your challenges, and no team has been better at using their challenges than the Knicks.
During the 2024-25 season, the Knicks challenged 53 calls and got 42 of them right, a success rate of 79.2%. The league as a whole only converted 63.2%. Although the NBA does not officially publish detailed stats about coaches’ challenges, yours truly went into their database to find the exact numbers.
Although I do not know how the other 29 teams rank, there’s a good chance the Knicks are the best at using their challenges. A mid-season Sporting News article had the Knicks at the top, while the teams close beneath them had also been more frugal with their challenges.
While the Knicks challenged at a slightly below-average rate in 2024-25, their success rate and volume make them the cream of the crop.
Not being afraid to challenge early in games has helped the Knicks down the line.
In the ugly November 29th win against Charlotte, the Knicks secured possession on a previously called jump ball with over 19 minutes left in a game they eventually won by one.
On Christmas, the Knicks won a challenge in the first quarter to negate two free throws from Victor Wembanyama.
While the Spurs did retain possession, Wemby missed the shot afterward. The Knicks would go on to be locked in a tight game until a late-game Bridges takeover. Those two points could’ve made a difference.
Very early in the tighter-than-it-should-be game against Denver, the Knicks overturned an out-of-bounds call, which helped contribute to their hot start to that game:
While not many of them led to the difference in a tight game, the Knicks were incredibly aggressive with their challenges. While the average team used 13.4% of their challenges in the first quarter, the Knicks used 24.5% of theirs.
In the first half? The NBA at large used 35.5% of their challenges in the first half, but the Knicks used 43.4%. Not to mention, they also went 10-for-13 in the first quarter and 20-for-23 in the first half. So while they haven’t used many in game-breaking scenarios, they can be useful in tight playoff games.
Challenges can also be used to sway momentum, which the Knicks have done
On March 30th against Portland, the Knicks were on their way back from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter when the refs erroneously ruled that this was out on Delon Wright:
After it was reversed, the Knicks cut the lead to one on a 3-ball. They would go on to dominate the remainder of the game.
Of course, they’ve also used it in the more common late-game scenarios.
In a tight game against the Nets in January, the Knicks overturned a very similar play to earlier, showing their keen eye:
Remember the Mikal Bridges’ game-winner in Portland? Does that even happen if the Knicks didn’t successfully challenge this out-of-bounds call?
The maestro behind the Knicks’ excellence on challenges is assistant director of player development Jordan Brink, according to the New York Post.
When Tom Thibodeau looks behind the bench, it’s Brink that gives him the go-ahead to use their challenge. While other coaches consider the time of game and shut down player requests to challenge, Thibs considers their pleas no matter how early, giving Brink the opportunity to check.
How could this affect a playoff game? While using an early challenge is immensely risky, the benefits could result in stealing a 2, 3, or even 5-point swing in the first half while maintaining the second challenge for late in the game.
Consider the 2024 First Round series against the 76ers.
The Knicks went 2-for-2 on challenges in Game 1, including this call that had a four-point swing and was big for momentum in the fourth quarter:
In Game 2, they went 1-for-1, challenging this shooting foul that would’ve sent Kyle Lowry to the line.
After winning the ensuing jump ball, the Knicks got two free throws. A four-point swing seems important given how this game ended.
While none of the remaining successes had much influence, the success rate of challenges proved crucial in a tight series. The Knicks went 5-for-7 on challenges, compared to Nick Nurse and co. going just 2-for-5.
Looking ahead to this year’s first round series, the Pistons used challenges a lot more (69) but had a significantly lower success rate (63.8%), ultimately only having two more successful challenges despite 16 more attempts.
J.B. Bickerstaff is also not as aggressive in the first quarter, but similarly aggressive in the first half in terms of percentage. However, his success rate of around 67% still lacks behind.
In a playoff series where teams will have to use their challenges more strategically, the team that exhibits the most cautious aggression will benefit.
And that’ll be the Knicks.