The three biggest questions facing the New York Knicks this offseason

It’s 20 minutes after the New York Knicks completed a must-win 112-103 Game 5 win against the Miami Heat to extend their Eastern Conference semifinals series, and coach Tom Thibodeau, dressed in a black pullover, sits behind a small table inside the Madison Square Garden press room with a smile cracked across his face. Not only did his team find a way to claw out a win it had to have, it did so in a way that brought Thibodeau back to his roots as guards Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes played every second of the 48-minute game.

The veteran coach has long been the face of the old-school mentality. His philosophy, based on more than three decades in the league, has been that players train for the heavy workload. So the Game 5 victory not only provided his team some more oxygen on its season, it allowed the 65-year-old coach, who signed a five-year contract with the Knicks prior to the 2020-21 season, the platform to defend his favorite coaching position — one most other teams (and players and training staffs) have decried of late.

“The thing about our team, we have a bunch of gym rats,” said Thibodeau, answering a question about Brunson and Grimes. “So I know, you give them an off day, they’re in there all day. They’re going to lift, shoot, watch film, so I know that’s who they are. And when you have guys like that, you know they’re ready … these are world-class athletes. So if you condition yourself to handle that type of workload, you’re going to be fine. But if you don’t condition yourself that way, you may be deconditioned and you may get injured.”