How Mike Brown’s Self-Criticism Helped New York’s Losing Streak

NEW YORK – The New York Knicks extended their winning streak to four games on Sunday night with a 134-98 shutout of the Brooklyn Nets. The crosstown visitors, led by Michael Porter Jr.’s 22-point first-half outburst, trailed by just 15 points at halftime. The The Knicks shut down Porter Jr.and Nets, in the second half. New York held the former Denver Nuggets to three points at halftime as they cruised to victory.

The streak suits the Knicks perfectly longest home stand since 2013. They won all four games to start, leaving the team with a 6-0 start at home to start the season. The streak is a welcome change of pace from the three-game losing streak that led up to it. After winning each of the first two games, New York has lost three straight on the road against the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls. This represents all three defeats of the team so far, 6-3.

The The Knicks lost the third quarter in their first four games, including against the Heat and Bucks. This allowed for concerns that the team was developing a habit of slowly coming out of the break. Brown took the opportunity after the game to point out what the highs and lows of an 82-game regular season might look like in real time.

“I’ve said this before, you know, we lost three straight and a lot of people thought the world – the sky was falling,” Brown said for himself and the players he recently started coaching. He went on to say that he, like the players, deserves criticism for losing in all three away games.

“We haven’t been together long. I’ll be the first to admit: I didn’t know when to put Josh (Hart) in, when to take him out. I didn’t know when to put Mitch (Robinson) in, when to take him out, you know, I was still figuring out our rotations and how we were going to play and all that stuff,” Brown.

New Knicks coach says consistency is key to championship hopes

Brown’s accountability could be refreshing to Knicks fans who have been asking for more transparency from the organization. However, like any coaching position in professional sports, Brown and his team will be judged by wins and losses. More specifically, when those wins and losses occur and what the team looks like en route to those outcomes.

Reporters asked the coach after Sunday night’s win if anything had changed in the team’s approach at halftime. The Knicks held the Nets scoreless for the first few minutes of the second half and won the third quarter 35-17. Brown told reporters that the team is adapting, learning as it plays, in hopes of building a solid foundation together.

“We just need time and, again, I thought I was bad — and we were bad as a team — in Miami. Next we went to, I think, Milwaukee, and we thought we were pretty good in the first half. We fell apart a little bit in the second half,” Brown recalled. “Then we go to Chicago, not so good in the first half, pretty good in the second half. Again, it’s not going to happen overnight, maybe we’re going on another three-game losing streak. Maybe we mess up in the third quarter. Who knows?”

A new leading voice for the Knicks has been brought in to help the team reach the next level. In this case, that would be an appearance in the NBA Finals and a potential victory. It might not happen in Brown’s first year with the organization, but the coach has been saying it since the beginning establishing the right habits starts from day one and is key to putting together a winner.

“If you want to be great in life, you have to find a way to be consistent,” Brown said after the game. “That’s the biggest thing and that’s what we’ve been preaching and talking about and all we’ve done is just address our third quarters…Ti (Eaton) is our strength coach, he’s not stretching them anymore or whatever, our guys come out and just play and they’re locked in.”