Mike Brown excited for Garden debut as Knicks coach; shock of trade has worn off for Donte DiVincenzo
New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns exchanges words with coach Mike Brown during the first half on Thursday. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
It might have been a cruel twist by the NBA schedule-makers if Mike Brown needed the full range of emotions as he made his debut at Madison Square Garden as Knicks coach.
The excitement of the moment was mixed with a glance down the sideline to see Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in the uniform of the Minnesota Timberwolves, a reminder of just how tenuous all of this is.
Brown hardly needed a reminder, having gone through the cycle of winning Coach of the Year honors and also being called into the office to be fired. So the two former Knicks talking about their time winning 50 games for the franchise and their ties to the fired Tom Thibodeau was not really necessary to have Brown soak in the moment for what it is — the present — and a 100-95 overtime win to run the Knicks’ preseason record to 3-0.
“It’s exciting,” Brown said of making his home debut Thursday night. “On the ride down, it was exciting. Love being in MSG, knowing that’s where we’re going to play every night for our home games. And it’s exciting. Because it’s iconic. And there’s always a buzz about being here. Not just from the staff, the players — everybody. It’s hard to duplicate any place else. So it’s a good feeling.”
DiVincenzo was staggered by the trade last year, and appearing at the Garden just over a week after it was made official, he was flooded with emotions. That has passed now — he noted that he is comfortable as a member of the Timberwolves with a full year behind him — but that didn’t stop him from being shocked at seeing a major change in New York again this summer.
“For sure. You guys have heard me. I love Thibs,” DiVincenzo said. “I could talk all day about Thibs. It surprised me, but business is business. I think the trade last year was a surprise. So anything in this league is not off the table. You can go across the league and see people get traded, coaches get fired. It just is what it is. I was more impressed with seeing him in San Diego. He looked healthy. He looked happy. That’s the good-stuff side of it.
“It’s surprising, but you have to understand that business is business. You have to separate the personal and the relationships and the emotional side of things when stuff like that happens. You get close to people in a short span of time. When stuff like that happens, you can disagree with it or whatever, but they have a vision of what they want to do and you respect that.
“And I’m not on that side so, with all due respect, I don’t necessarily care that much. But like I said, just to see him healthy, happy and feeling good and sounding good was great.”
Notes & quotes: Josh Hart was unavailable Thursday as a precaution after missing Wednesday’s practice with an illness. He has yet to play since suffering back spasms in the preseason opener in Abu Dhabi last week . . . Mikal Bridges led the Knicks with 15 points. The bench spurred the comeback win, erasing a 12-point deficit . . . The Knicks are not expected to make any roster moves immediately. Brown said he hopes to get all of the players in camp a chance to play at the Garden, where the Knicks’ final three preseason games are being held. “These guys work too hard,” he said. “They’ve been too good of teammates to not try to find a way to get everybody on the floor at some point. It might not be tonight, maybe the next game. I don’t know. But that definitely is one of my goals.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
