Knicks coach Mike Brown understood the assignment in New York, and he’s aced it

CLEVELAND — It stood out because, like so much about this unbelievable New York Knicks run through the 2026 NBA playoffs, it was just a little bit different.

After yet another commanding win in Game 3 of the 2026 Eastern Conference finals to put the Cleveland Cavaliers on the brink of elimination and draw the Knicks 48 minutes closer to an NBA Finals return more than a quarter-century in the making, Brown praised his players for remaining desperate despite their success. It’s a message the coach has delivered repeatedly this postseason.

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“They’ve been fantastic,” Brown said. “We’ve thrown a lot of adjustments, offensively and defensively, at them throughout the course of these playoffs. And to still see them locked in, and trying to be focused on the details at hand, again, that just speaks volumes of my coaching staff and the way that they’re presenting and changing and all that stuff.”

And then, Brown said something new.

“But [it’s] more so about these players,” Brown said. “And their want to go try to get a ring.”

To that point in his maiden postseason voyage as the head coach of the New York Knicks, Brown had yet to reach for that rhetorical brass ring.

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Now, after a 130-93 Game 4 victory on Monday — another blowout in a closeout — Brown is the first Knicks head coach since Jeff Van Gundy in 1999 who will have a chance to compete for the real thing.

(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

It’s the high point (thus far, at least) in what’s been a remarkable return to head coaching for Brown, who hadn’t made the championship round from the first seat on the bench since 2007 — the longest gap for any coach in NBA history — and whose future seemed uncertain after he’d been fired amid a slow start to his third season in Sacramento during the 2024-25 season.

“If an opportunity came up, great; if it didn’t, you know, shoot, I felt lucky, blessed, fortunate,” Brown said. “I had a good run, you know? And I felt that at some point, I’d get another opportunity, whether it was a head coach or an assistant coaching position. So I just kind of rolled…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/knicks-coach-mike-brown-understood-the-assignment-in-new-york-and-hes-aced-it-201549616.html

Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2026-05-27 20:15:00

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