Mike Brown won 53 games in his first year as Knicks coach. His Knicks finished No. 4 on offense, No. 7 on defense and No. 5 in net rating. Strong numbers, solid results.
But Brown knows his regular season accomplishments don’t mean much.
We all know that these Knicks – and their head coach – will be judged on what happens over the next few weeks.
So far, so good.
Brown and his staff made some decisions that were crucial to New York’s Game 1 win on Saturday.
Under Brown and associate head coach Chris Jent, the Knick offense looked strong early on. Yes, part of it was Jalen Brunson’s brilliance (19 first-quarter points, 8-for-11 shooting). But the Karl-Anthony Towns-Brunson actions also resulted in some great looks. The Knicks shot 60 percent in the first quarter and 49 percent in the half.
But they were having issues on the other end of the floor. Atlanta’s guard-guard screens produced some open threes (Hawks were 5-for-8 on threes in the second quarter). They allowed Atlanta to get out in transition.
The Knicks dominated stretches of the first half but went to the locker room with just a two-point lead.
Brown and his staff seemed to push nearly all the right buttons coming out of halftime.
The Knicks outscored Atlanta in transition, 11-0, in the third quarter.
After facilitating in the first half, Towns started to put the ball in the basket after halftime. He had 14 points in the first 18 minutes of the half, helping the Knicks push their lead to 16 with six minutes to go.
The Knicks also cleaned up their defense on the Hawks perimeter screening. Atlanta missed seven of its nine three-point attempts in the decisive third quarter.
Another good call by Brown? His counterpart, Quin Snyder, started to intentionally foul Mitchell Robinson in the third quarter. They fouled Robinson four times in a 1:03 stretch of the third quarter. Robinson missed three of four free throws; New York’s lead was down to six with 4:51 left in the third.
Brown took Robinson out at that point. But he didn’t keep him on the bench. Brown had Robinson back on the floor to start the fourth quarter. Atlanta wasn’t going to intentionally foul Robinson early in the fourth and get the Knicks in the bonus. With Robinson on the floor, the Knicks extended their lead to 12 with 9:34 to play.
/ Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Brown also went to Jordan Clarkson to start the fourth. Clarkson delivered; his reverse layup with six minutes to play put the Knicks up 16.
Clarkson, you’ll remember, was out of the Knick rotation for several weeks in the middle of the season. Instead of burying him, Brown went back to Clarkson shortly after the All Star break. He gave the Knicks an immediate lift and has remained in Brown’s rotation ever since.
Brown is Clarkson’s sixth coach in 12 NBA seasons. So Clarkson knows good coaching when he sees it. He knows bad coaching when he sees it. What does he think of Brown?
“Intense, smart, challenges us as players. Makes some really good adjustments,” Clarkson said. “His communication throughout the year has been really good with us. From meetings, talking to us, finding out what we see, doing different things (based on player feedback). He’s done an amazing job.”
Brown passed his first Knick playoff test on Saturday. His next exam is Monday night at 8 pm.
TOWNS/BRUNSON PAIRING
The Brunson/Towns actions on offense continue to produce good results.
“The longer we’re obviously on the court together, our chemistry is better. I think we’ve grown as teammates, we’ve grown as friends, and it’s contributing to the way we’re playing,” Brunson said.
SECOND HALF PHYSICALITY
Both Josh Hart and Miles McBride said the Knicks played with a high level of physicality throughout the game. That picked up in the second half; Atlanta missed 15 of its first 23 shots to open the third quarter.
“I feel like they were getting out and they were winning a space battle (in the first half), getting open, getting to their spots and I feel like in the second half, we really cut that off,” McBride said. “We made catches difficult, and we got to loose balls.”
ANUNOBY’S IMPORTANCE
OG Anunoby left the game briefly in the second half due to an ankle injury. With Anunoby on the bench, Clarkson went to work. Just as he did late in the regular season, Clarkson performed some spiritual healing on Anunoby. Robinson and Jose Alvarado joined as well.
“We need OG out here, so we’re gonna make it happen,” Clarkson joked after the game. “He came over to the bench and asked me if I could do (the spiritual healing) for his ankle; then he sat over there for a second, came back in the game and finished the game.
“Like I said, we need him on the floor so whatever I gotta do to keep it going… sprinkle a little magic on him.”
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