Tom Thibodeau would not stop repeating the same three words: Corey f—ing Kispert. Kispert, the Washington Wizards sharpshooter, had just walked all over Thibodeau’s New York Knicks in the first half of a late-season game in 2023. A player averaging 11 points entering the night had already dropped 20 through two quarters. With the Knicks down eight at the half, their head coach barged into the locker room. “Corey f—ing Kispert!” Thibodeau bellowed. “Corey f—ing Kispert! Corey f—ing Kispert.” He kept going, revving himself up. “He said it like five times. … Every one just progressively got louder,” Josh Hart recalled. Then Thibodeau reached his breaking point. “How does Corey Kispert,” he crescendoed, “turn into Michael Jordan?!” -via The Athletic / April 22, 2024
