Steve Popper: Knicks do it all wrong, frustrating coach Mike Brown
Knicks head coach Mike Brown yells out to players during the first half against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. Credit: AP/Caroline Brehman
LOS ANGELES — Early Sunday morning, Mike Brown was talking about taking it day by day down the final stretch of the season as the Knicks head toward the playoffs. He presented a prescient but ominous warning.
“We’re going to lose,” he said. “We’re going to take a hit. But hopefully we don’t take too many hits. And if and when we lose, there’s a right way, because sometimes you just face a team and they’re just hot . . .
“Sometimes it may not be your day or your night. As long as you’re trying to do the things that you’re supposed to do on both ends of the floor and you brought the correct approach to the game, then you chalk it up as, OK, let’s learn from this and keep it moving.”
Hours later, after the Knicks suffered a 110-97 loss to the Lakers that clearly was frustrating to Brown and the team, he was not nearly as measured, and with good reason.
The simple request of “if and when we lose, there’s a right way” was exactly what escaped the Knicks on this day.
A step slow from the opening tip, the Knicks saw a Lakers team that was missing LeBron James — and is a level below the Nuggets squad the Knicks pummeled by 39 points two days earlier — pull down 30 offensive rebounds, beat the Knicks to loose balls and never trail for a second.
“They kicked our behind on the glass,” Brown said. “We did not box out. Our second-chance opportunities in terms of 15 points was something that we don’t give. We can’t get beat in that area, and it was due to our inability to get bodies on bodies and boxing out. So that’s the first thing.
“The second thing is we fouled. We got beat off the dribble often. We got beat to the middle. And being lazy about it, we reached at the last second and sent them to the free-throw line.
“And lastly, we didn’t take care of the basketball. That’s a recipe to getting your behind kicked.”
“Those are the things we can control,” Jalen Brunson said. “Obviously, they have to be non-negotiables. I’m at fault. We thrive on the little things and we didn’t do any of them.”
Brunson put the blame on his shoulders, and there were some legitimate things he could point to — seven turnovers, struggles with a shot that has faltered of late.
But just as the Knicks had a top-to-bottom highlight reel in Denver on Friday, it would be hard to find someone who wasn’t at fault on this day.
Could it have something to do with the road, playing a game just past noon on a day when daylight saving time kicked in? Sure, that could have an effect. But the Knicks could have seen it from almost the opening tip and gotten a wake-up call before it was too late.
Mikal Bridges got in early foul trouble and never got into a rhythm. He went scoreless in 27 minutes, 21 seconds of — I use the term loosely — action.
After a 34-point night in Denver, OG Anunoby didn’t have a field-goal attempt in the first quarter and finished with 13 points. Karl-Anthony Towns struggled early but finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds.
“I think I always remember what we were doing to win games,” said Bridges, who had not gone scoreless since Jan. 10, 2025, other than a six-second consecutive-games-streak- holder to end last season. “I know we scored a lot of points last game, but we’ve got to remember what got us there is getting stops and playing the right way. That’s pretty much what I can say about that. Remember what we’ve been doing and how much we’ve gotten better, and it definitely starts on the defensive end.”
Brown didn’t just say it to the media afterward but delivered the message to his team. While he stresses the highs and lows that a season will bring, as he said before the game, when the lows are accompanied by playing the right way, it’s much easier to take.
“Yeah, same thing he was saying,” Bridges said. “All the things we were doing when we were winning games, playing hard, playing the right way, I think we were lacking that tonight. He had every right to be upset.”
“I’m always direct,” Brown said. “Whether it’s this game or another game, I’m always direct. I’m not going to sugarcoat.”
The Knicks were pointing ahead to Monday, when they will have another chance. They will take on the Clippers across town and attempt to get back to where they were before this sort of performance.
“I think just bouncing back,” Bridges said “We have an opportunity to show that tomorrow off a back-to-back. Not playing as we wanted to, we get another chance to bounce back.
“It’s a game of life. You know what I’m saying? You’re hit and you’ve just got to get back up. So what are you going to do? We’ve got another opportunity tomorrow.”
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.
