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Rick Carlisle appears to be playing mind games with Tom Thibodeau

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated May 26, 2025 9:46 PM ET

Rick Carlisle may be trying to pull an old Jedi mind trick on his coaching counterpart.

The Indiana Pacers head coach Carlisle went viral on Monday for some comments that he made to reporters after team practice. Indiana lost Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the New York Knicks on Sunday but still hold a 2-1 advantage in the series overall.

During his remarks, Carlisle commented on the matchup against the Knicks, particularly the depth that they have at their disposal. Notably, Carlisle mentioned how Knicks guard Cameron Payne did not play at all in Game 3.

"You know, Payne, who's had some very good stretches, didn't play, so…"

–– Rick Carlisle after Game 3 pic.twitter.com/jHdYmd4Fkl
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) May 26, 2025

Fans quickly theorized that Carlisle might have been attempting to play mind games with Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau there. After all, Payne has largely been a disaster on the floor throughout this postseason.

Though Payne has been to the NBA Finals before (in 2021 with the Phoenix Suns), his play in the 2025 playoffs has been pretty horrid. Payne is shooting a woeful 32.4 percent from the field in the postseason (including 23.8 percent from deep) and has also been a turnstile on defense. On top of that, Payne has had a negative plus-minus in 10 of his 14 games during the playoffs this year (including a -9 in just nine minutes against the Pacers in Game 2).

The general consensus right now is that Carlisle has been outcoaching Thibodeau to this point of the series (though the Knicks did bounce back with a huge comeback victory in Game 3 to save their season). Thibodeau’s decision-making has been questioned for much of this year’s playoffs (in spite of the Knicks’ success), and now Carlisle is apparently hoping that Thibodeau makes the decision to turn back to Payne in the Eastern Conference Finals.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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