Rick Carlisle vs Tom Thibodeau: Do Pacers or Knicks Have Coaching Advantage?

The No. 2-seeded Knicks, who have made the playoffs in four of Thibodeau's five seasons at the helm, survived a six-game first round slugfest against the Detroit Pistons before shockingly upsetting the Celtics in the second round.

Now, New York will have homecourt advantage against Indiana for the two teams' first Eastern Conference Finals clash against one another since 2000, when current Knicks All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson's father Rick, now an assistant coach, was a player on the team.

Both Thibodeau and Carlisle have long histories of playoff success, although both have also worn out their welcomes at prior head coaching stops due to their hard-driving approaches to the process.

Carlisle has a longer resume as a head coach. Across 23 seasons guiding the Detroit Pistons, Pacers (in two separate stints), and Dallas Mavericks, he has posted a cumulative 993-860 regular season record and a 79-81 playoff record.

Carlisle has made the playoffs 16 times, including five Conference Finals berths. He has won one NBA title as a head coach, with the 2011 Dallas Mavericks in an upset over the LeBron James/Dwyane Wade/Chris Bosh-era Miami Heat. He has managed to thrive in both pre- and post-handcheck-era basketball, and lately has been riding a semi-egalitarian, pace-and-space roster to plenty of postseason success in Indiana.

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Thibodeau, meanwhile, has been a head coach across 13 seasons for three franchises of his own: the Chicago Bulls, Minnesota Timberwolves and now the Knicks. Thibodeau has led his teams to the playoffs 10 times across those 13 seasons, including a pair of Conference Finals appearances. Thibodeau boasts a career regular season record of 578-420 and a career playoff record of 46-51. Although he won a championship with the 2008 Boston Celtics as Doc Rivers' lead assistant, Thibodeau has yet to make an NBA Finals as a head coach.

While both coaches are known to drive their charges hard, occasionally to the point of burnout, Thibodeau's overuse of his players has led to some particularly disastrous injuries, most notably 2011 MVP then-Bulls point guard Derrick Rose's season-altering ACL tear in 2012. Thibodeau-era Bulls All-Stars Luol Deng and Joakim Noah also saw their own careers likely abbreviated thanks to extreme wear and tear, although Jimmy Butler is still going strong.

All told, Carlisle may hold the slight pedigree edge thanks to his title, seasoning, and more charitable minutes allocations — but that doesn't mean Thibodeau won't pose a pretty formidable threat.

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