Mike Brown has taken his New York Knicks to the NBA Finals and is now just two games away from winning the Larry O'Brien trophy. He's also helped lead the Knicks to 13 straight wins this postseason, the second-longest streak in NBA playoff history.
Funny enough, Mike Brown was part of the longest streak as well, helping lead the Golden State Warriors in 2017 as an interim head coach to the NBA Championship while winning an NBA record 15 consecutive postseason games.
So how do the two runs compare for Brown, given he was at the helm for both?
“The first one that's similar is you've got to have good players, because I'm not that smart,” Mike Brown said with a laugh to start his answer. “So you've got to have good players that carry you. I know when I was in Golden State, great players that embraced me when I had to take over for Steve. But I'm always thankful to Andre Iguodala because I'll never forget that first game I took over in Portland, we're down, and I'm like, oh crap, we're going to lose, I'm going to get blamed. This is during the game, and it was a timeout, and I started saying something to try to get the guys fired up, and Andre jumped in and he just seconded it, man. He just backed me and was like, hear what he said, ‘Bam, bam, bam!' I was like, ‘Yeah, thanks Andre, yes, yes!' So having a guy like that, and I got a ton of guys from Jalen, to Josh, to KAT, like that, is extremely helpful because as a coach, your voice only carries so far, especially as an assistant coach/interim coach. So that's probably the biggest thing that's similar.
“And then during the playoffs, obviously it gets magnified more, it gets talked about more, and you have to guard against complacency with your guys. You can't keep manufacturing the appropriate fear in your guys that you need to have to be able to go out there to compete, so you hope the guys can generate that themselves by staying present and understanding how hard each possession is going to be, and I feel our group has done that.”
Mike Brown tells a story about how Andre Iguodala backed him up in the Warriors' huddle during a playoff game in 2017 when Brown took over as the team's acting coach for Steve Kerr 😂 pic.twitter.com/pwJDIDfWux
— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) June 5, 2026
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Mike Brown has been an NBA head coach now for 12 seasons, putting together a 507-333 regular season record (.604) and 64-42 playoff record (.604). Those numbers don't include taking over for Steve Kerr at one point during the Warriors 2017 playoff run due to health issues.
The Warriors finished that postseason with a 15-1 record, their lone loss coming against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the 2017 NBA Finals.
With Game 3 on Monday night and Game 4 Wednesday, the Knicks could really be just two days away from winning the NBA Championship and hosting some of the greatest celebrations a sports city has ever had.
Mike Brown has taken his New York Knicks to the NBA Finals and is now just two games away from winning the Larry O'Brien trophy. He's also helped lead the Knicks to 13 straight wins this postseason, the second-longest streak in NBA playoff history.