Tom Thibodeau doesn\u2019t believe the new pope means his Knicks are now destined to win it all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he does think that Cardinal Robert Frances Prevost, a Villanova alum and Chicago native, being voted in as the first pope from the United States<\/a> is helpful for his three former Villanova stars, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges.<\/p>\n Tom Thibodeau of the New York Knicks reacts against the Boston Celtics. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, now they can be forgiven for their sins,\u201d the Knicks\u2019 coach joked.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brunson, the team\u2019s superstar guard who has led them to a 2-0 series lead over the heavily favored Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, was thrilled to hear about the news.\u00a0<\/p>\n Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, left, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, appears with, from left, Vatican Master of Liturgical Celebrations Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Cardinal Vinko Pulji\u0107 on the central loggia of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica. AP<\/p>\n Follow The Post\u2019s coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs<\/p>\n Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks<\/a> to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take<\/a> for insider texts about the series.<\/p>\n \u201cReally cool. I\u2019m just happy that we\u2019re getting noticed for being a good school,\u201d said Brunson, who won two national championships at Villanova.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brunson has never met the new pope, and didn\u2019t have any idea he was in the running for the prestigious honor.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks reacts after hitting a three-point shot. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n \u201cI knew that I was focusing on the game on Saturday,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool for him and I\u2019m very happy for him, but I\u2019m focused right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Thibodeau doesn\u2019t believe the new pope means his Knicks are now destined to win it all.\u00a0 But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,288,304,6,11,197,1136,191,3810,3806,7007,66,1416,6722],"class_list":{"0":"post-21777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jalen-brunson","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-playoffs","13":"tag-nba-playoffs-2025","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-knicks","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkknicks","18":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-tom-thibodeau","21":"tag-villanova-wildcats"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114479502888366650","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}