Why Mike Brown Won’t ‘Redo Everything’ Despite 7-10 Record Since NBA Bowl

NEW YORK – The New York Knicks lost their third straight game on Saturday night and the Phoenix Suns won 106-99. It was the eighth game they lost in their last 10 games, taking their record since the NBA Cup to 7-10. The trade deadline is just three weeks away, after which team president Leon Rose’s options for trades are limited.

As for the players on the roster, the head coach Mike Brown he told reporters after the game that there are no major changes.

“You don’t want to lose games at all, but, you know. Especially when it’s 2-8 in the last 10. So there’s some concern, but not to the point where we’re going to revisit everything,” the coach said after the 17-game losing streak.

Brown takes a 479-321 record as an NBA head coach into Monday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. His responsibility fueled the Knicks’ comeback efforts from an early three-game skid. If this fall is going to be a tipping point, he knows what it has to look like.

“We have to work. Like I said, look in the mirror, see how we can individually help the group, starting with me, and then we have to get in the gym. We have to work as hard as we can. And we have to keep fighting like we did tonight, and if we do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance,” he told the media on Saturday.

There was no single strategic adjustment that Brown outlined as the key to the turnaround. It seems he just needs to see consistency, determination and desire to improve. Those are factors players and coaches can control at this point in the season.

Brunson, Hart’s Knicks are coming back at the right time

According to Monday morning’s injury report, both Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart are wearing “questionable” labels as the Knicks prepare to host a former player’s former team.

Brunson left Wednesday night’s game in Sacramento after just five minutes after twisting his right ankle. It’s the same ankle he sprained in November, which caused him to miss two games, and last March when he missed nearly a month.

Hart sprained his right ankle on Christmas Day against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He missed eight games before returning against one of his former teams in the Portland Trail Blazers. Brown he told reporters on Saturday that the 30-year-old sat out of caution, not necessity.

“He’s just a little sore, so we’ll just be careful. Especially at this time of the year,” the coach explained.

This is normal for these Knicks, who sat Mitchell Robinson in Thursday’s loss to the Warriors. That’s part of it a plan for managing his workload throughout the season. Injury management decisions are similar to a team’s voluntary use of first- and second-year players in the regular season.

Brown is sticking to his preseason promises to play as many players as possible and generally manage their workload. Brunson hovers around the 34 minutes per game goal his head coach set for himself ahead of the regular season.

Bridges is averaging 35, one over that mark. Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby are averaging about 32 minutes per game, while the league leader last season in Hart is playing just over 30 minutes.

Even as the losses pile up, it’s crucial to remember what “time of the year” it is in the NBA calendar and where the Knicks shifted their philosophy during the offseason. The discord between Brown and Towns it’s worth keeping an eye on, but it’s probably not time to panic yet.