{"id":798918,"date":"2026-05-15T19:56:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/798918\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T19:56:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T19:56:37","slug":"mike-brown-was-hired-to-coach-the-knicks-for-this-moment-he-has-his-team-ready-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/798918\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown was hired to coach the Knicks for this moment. He has his team ready for it"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREENBURGH, N.Y.<\/strong> \u2013 Mike Brown was hired for this moment.<\/p>\n

The New York Knicks already had a coach who could take them to the Eastern Conference finals \u2014 and they fired him immediately after<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whoever replaced Tom Thibodeau would do so knowing he was inheriting a seat that was already warm, taking an undeniable win-now job where the only way he could demonstrate he made the team better was by reaching the NBA Finals. The pressure grew even more during the season, when the owner said he believed the Knicks should play for the title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The expectations were clear, though Brown never needed to have them explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have talked about a mandate,\u201d Brown said recently. \u201cLike, I\u2019m coaching to win, so it doesn\u2019t matter what others say. I\u2019m disappointed if we\u2019re not in the finals and having a chance to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has led the Knicks back to the conference finals, where they will play either Detroit or Cleveland. They were two losses from going home in the first round in what could have been a flop worthy of a firing. Instead, he changed some things, stuck with others, and the Knicks have reeled off seven straight wins, mostly in convincing fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a great job of adjusting our team to give us the best chance to win,\u201d center Karl-Anthony Towns said, \u201cand the spot we\u2019re in now is because of his courage and the trust to change what we were doing and put us in a better position.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s resume was certainly worthy of the job. He\u2019s a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the latter as the first unanimous winner in 2023 after leading the Sacramento Kings to their first playoff appearance since 2006, ending what was the longest active drought in North American pro sports.<\/p>\n

But there was going to be skepticism with any hire, in part because many people weren’t sure Thibodeau should’ve even been fired. The Knicks won just one playoff series between 2001 and his hiring in 2020, and he brought them to the postseason four times in five years, culminating last season with their first conference finals appearance in 25 years.<\/p>\n

Yet the Knicks wanted a coach with a different style. Someone who would be the boss without being bossy. Someone who would make decisions about the team without the feeling that only he got to decide. <\/p>\n

Brown gives everyone from the front office to the players a say.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always wanted to have open dialogue since day one,” captain Jalen Brunson said. “And obviously he\u2019s still the coach and he\u2019s going to make the decisions and everything. But I mean, we give our opinions, and whether they\u2019re good or bad opinions, they\u2019re talked about and they\u2019re decided on later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown, of course, makes the final call. And the ones he made when the Knicks faced their only adversity thus far in the postseason clearly turned out right.<\/p>\n

Mikal Bridges was off to a terrible start against Atlanta, and after he was scoreless in just 21 minutes in Game 3, there were cries for Brown to bench the guard who had started every game in his two seasons with the Knicks.<\/p>\n

Brown stayed the course, and there\u2019s no sitting Bridges down now. After scoring 24 points in the Game 6 finisher against the Hawks, he averaged 17.5 points on nearly 64% shooting in the sweep of Philadelphia, all while leading the defensive effort against 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey.<\/p>\n

The other decision was to have Brunson, his All-Star point guard, initiate less of the offense. Instead, the Knicks have run more by positioning Towns up high and letting him find cutters. His passing has opened up more space on the floor for Brunson and others to find easier shots. <\/p>\n

Again, there was discussion before the decision. But, perhaps showing the players\u2019 belief in Brown, it was apparently a short one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dialogue was: \u2018OK, let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d Brunson said.<\/p>\n

Brown led the Knicks to a 53-29 record, their best since 2012-13. Yet there were stretches of mediocrity after a strong start, and a distant third-place finish in the East despite a lineup headlined by two All-Stars felt underwhelming. <\/p>\n

Brown responded by saying teams need to go through rocky times.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t listen to the outside noise and he doesn\u2019t let that affect him,\u201d forward Josh Hart said.<\/p>\n

Brown said that’s easy to do. He worked on title-winning teams under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio and Steve Kerr with Golden State, and he remembers people complaining about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo shoot, people can talk about Mike Brown for sure,\u201d Brown said. \u201cBut it\u2019s my job to ignore the noise and it\u2019s easy for me to do that because the pressure that I put on myself, that the team puts on itself, to be great or to try to be the best team in the league doesn\u2019t even match up with what everybody else says throughout the course of the year.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brown said his only focus all season has been winning a championship. The way his Knicks are playing now, there’s definitely a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mandate and all that other stuff, like, that\u2019s what I expect,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I want to do and hopefully it can happen, but who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREENBURGH, N.Y. \u2013 Mike Brown was hired for this moment. The New York Knicks already had a coach…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":798919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[14059,24114,69359,24115,7195,24282,1260,62,18767,6541,36689,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-798918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-gregg-popovich","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-mike-brown","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-steve-kerr","tag-tom-thibodeau","tag-tyrese-maxey","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116580357668742794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}