Mike Brown head coach of the New York Knicks
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Mike Brown head coach of the New York Knicks
Generally, New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown is a pretty easy-going guy, a player’s coach who has come up under Gregg Popovich, has been a head coach for four different organizations and has a pretty good grasp on how and when to send messages to his players. But there has been something about this Knicks team that, in his first year coaching the group, he has found hard to reach. No matter the message, the Knicks keep doing the same thing–starting slow, falling behind, hoping to rally to come back.
The Knicks did that Sunday despite playing a depleted Golden State team at Madison Square Garden, in a game in which the Warriors went with a starting lineup of G League players, end-of-the-benchers and Brandin Podziemski. Yet they trailed by 14 points after one quarter, just as they trailed by 15 in Utah last week.
Jalen Brunson was 4-for-7 shooting in the first quarter. The rest of the starting five was 2-for-8, and the sixth man many feel should be starting–Landry Shamet–was 0-for-4.
Now, the Knicks rallied to win. But Brown was clear that he is tiring of the need to pull together great comebacks to beat teams that, frankly, the Knicks should be drubbing.
Mike Brown Open to Knicks Starting Lineup Change
Brown said on Sunday that he is not planning to change the Knicks starting lineup, at least not yet. He pointed out that even when there have been injuries that have forced different alterations in the first five, the Knicks have still struggled.
“It’s not too late to do anything. If I feel the need, I will. I’m not thinking that right now,” he said.
The problem is glaring, though. Since their big win over the Spurs at home on March 1, the Knicks have been brutal in the first quarter. Their offensive rating has been 101.0 in those games, and their defensive rating has been 121.7. That minus-21.7 net rating is 29th in the NBA in that span.
Still, the Knicks have won three in a row by beating the tanking Jazz and Pacers, as well as the ravaged Warriors. And they probably can afford to continue struggling because their next three games come against the Pacers, Nets and Wizards.
‘Not Happy With the Way We Started’
Brown went on a bit of a rant–by his standards–on Sunday after the game, as he expressed his disappointment and befuddlement over the Knicks’ lack of results. He said he did not name a Defensive Player of the Game, a tradition he’s employed all season.
“I was not happy with the way we started the game and the way we finished the game. Now, we found a way to get a win because of the stuff we did in the game,” Brown said. “But I did not name a DPOG today so there’s no DPOG. We have to figure out, individually, collectively, how we can start games better. I thought at Indiana—and again, we did not blow Indiana out, that game could have gone either way—but we collectively, as a group, started that game with a level of physicality and a level of focus that we need to have every game, especially going down the stretch.
“Not talking about the outcome, win or loss, but talking about the start of the game, with a level of focus and a level of physicality so that they’re feeling us to start the game.”