New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown returned to Sacramento for the first time since he was fired during the season last year, and the one thing he probably wanted was to walk out of the arena with a win. Unfortunately, the Knicks did not come close to doing that, as they lost 112-101. It felt like the Knicks never gave themselves a chance to actually make the game competitive, and there were sequences that show it.
There was one sequence in the first half where Karl-Anthony Town fell and turned the ball over, but did not get back on defense, which led to an open shot for the Kings. After the game, Brown spoke about the play, and basically implied that Towns had to be better.
“When you fall down you gotta get up, you gotta sprint down the floor,” Brown said. “Even if you're the last guy up the floor, you gotta get down there in case there's a long rebound… there was no sense of urgency… it was a 5 point swing.
“We watched the play at halftime; he didn't even cross halfcourt. That sums up what our night was.”
Article Continues Below
Mike Brown talks KAT laying down on defense w/o getting back vs SAC: "When you fall down you gotta get up, you gotta sprint down the floor. Even if you're the last guy up the floor, you gotta get down there in case there's a long rebound… there was no sense of urgency… it was… pic.twitter.com/rjPn9Tt0wJ
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) January 15, 2026
Outside of that, the Knicks just didn't seem to have it last night, and Brown doesn't think they were ready.
“This is one of the worst if not the worst I've seen us play the entire year in terms of following a gameplan… gotta give the Kings credit… We were out there going through the motions, you go through the motions in this league you're gonna get your behind kicked,” Brown said.
There will be games throughout the season where you just don't have it on those nights, but it can't be a thing that becomes consistent. It didn't make anything better than Jalen Brunson had to leave the game early because of an ankle injury, and the hope is that it's not serious, as they play the Golden State Warriors on the the second game of a back-to-back.