Mike Brown applauded Knicks for using cooler heads with officials

Mike Brown has repeatedly criticized the Knicks lately for ongoing feuds with officials.

However, after Sunday’s victory over the Trail Blazers (123-114), he had a different feeling.

“I thought our guys handled the lead fantastic,” the head coach said. “And I keep telling our guys that we decide whether we’re going to win or lose, not the officials. And sometimes things go our way; sometimes they go our opponents’ way. And if we stick to what our job is, nine times out of 10 we’re going to be able to control that outcome with a win. If you start barking at the officials, which we could have done because at one point there were six to 16 violations, but if you start barking at the officials – first of all, it also takes energy away from what you’re trying to do. and to focus. So I applaud all our guys.

“And I talked to our veterans: Jalen [Brunson]Josh [Hart]Big [Karl-Anthony Towns]: ‘Hey, it starts with you. You guys need to leave the officials alone so everyone else lines up,’ and I thought our guys did a great job with it tonight.”

Brown praised the fourth-quarter defense, which has been an issue in recent weeks, after Sunday’s game.

“It shifts the momentum a lot because you feel good when you come to a stop,” Brown said. “There’s a level of confidence that just grows with each individual when you get big stops. And now when you get stops and run and run, especially if you watch the transition, it can deflate you a little bit, no matter who we’re playing. So for us to do that was huge. We got some big stops in that fourth quarter, and we got out and ran. We made the right shots.”

The Knicks turned the ball over just 12 times on Sunday, fewer than in all but eight games this season.

“We talked about it at halftime,” Brown said. “We had to keep these guys from getting out in transition. They came out of transition in the first half with 20 fast break points in the first half. A lot of that was due to our turnovers. We took better care of the ball in the second half, so they couldn’t get out of that. They had seven fast break points in the second half compared to 20 in the first half.”