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It is all pretty simple, really.
Mike Brown is only the Knicks’ head coach because not even back-to-back 50-win regular seasons were enough to save his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau, from being fired after New York stumbled in the Eastern Conference Finals last spring.
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The implied word from on-high for all to see that even though Thibodeau posted a .565 winning percentage over his five years and won NBA Coach of the Year in 2021, the franchise’s first trip to the doorstep of the NBA Finals in a quarter of a century was unsatisfactory.
The perception – and possible reality, too – is that there is a mandate for the first-year man in New York: It better be a trip to the NBA Finals or bust.
“People have talked about a mandate, I’m coaching to win,” Brown said Tuesday after a dominant Game 1 win of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“It doesn’t matter what others say,” he continued. “I’m disappointed if we’re not in the Finals and having a chance to win it.”
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Brown said he’s been “fortunate, blessed, lucky” to have made the Finals six times with three different teams during his career as a head coach and assistant, with four titles.
“It’s the best feeling in the world, and I know that’s what I do it for,” he said.
As far as the “mandate and all that stuff,” Brown said the NBA Finals-or-bust attitude is something the head coach embraces.
“That’s what I expect, that’s what I want to do,” he said, “and hopefully it can happen, but who knows?”
Despite acknowledging at least that elephant in the room, Brown doesn’t let the proverbial Sword of Damocles above his head impact his coaching.
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“He doesn’t listen to the outside noise and doesn’t let that affect him,” Josh Hart said Tuesday. “He’s focused every day on how he can come in and make this team better. He listens to his coaches, and he listens to us with our feedback and what we have to say, and asks us questions and stuff like that.
“I think it’s just a good line of communication with everyone within the organization, with obviously him at the helm of how we…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/mike-brown-embraces-knicks-nba-220400110.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-05 22:04:00
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