It turns out that Mike Brown is eerily similar to Tom Thibodeau when it comes to garbage time.
The new Knicks coach defended his decision to leave Jalen Brunson on the court in the final minutes of Wednesday’s loss to the Magic, saying, “I’m trying to win the game” while referencing his experience with “crazy comebacks.”
“There’s a few minutes left. One stop and two 3-pointers and it’s a two-possession game,” Brown said. “And that’s all I was trying to do, was win the game.”
Brown’s calculations have been off since Brunson turned his ankle with the Knicks trailing with 16 minutes and 1:54 left. The injury was confirmed by testing Thursday as a Grade 1 sprain, the source said.
Brunson was ruled out of Friday’s game against the Heat and it is unclear when he will return, with Brown saying he will rely on Knicks doctor Casey Smith for daily updates.
Although Wednesday’s deficit seemed insurmountable when Brunson was injured, Brown was clearly feeling hopeful, saying his definition of garbage time could change “depending on the flow of the game.”
In justification, Brown pointed to his time as Nuggets video coordinator in 1994, when Denver’s Rodney Rodgers scored nine points in nine seconds and pushed the Jazz to the brink.
The Nuggets still lost the game on a game-winning Jazz shot from Jeff Malone.
“[Sometimes I’ll wave the white flag] with four minutes to play, depending on the flow of the match. Sometimes it can come down to the last second. “If I feel like our guys are still competitive, still trying to play the right way and win the game, and I feel like there’s a chance, then I’m going to try to win the game.”
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Thibodeau took a similar approach with a similar historical example — though he often referenced Tracy McGrady’s late-game explosion in 2004, rather than Rodgers’ one a decade earlier.
Yet neither Thibodeau nor Brown ever recovered from a 16-point deficit with less than three minutes remaining.
And now they both oversaw garbage-time injuries as Knicks coaches.
Under Thibodeau, RJ Barrett missed four games after spraining his ankle in the final seconds of a 17-point loss.
Under Brown, Brunson will miss time with a sprained ankle, suffered when there was little reasonable doubt about the outcome of the game.
“You never want anyone to get hurt, let alone someone on your team and someone of Jalen’s caliber,” Brown said when asked if he was relieved the injury wasn’t more serious, especially since Brunson left the arena on crutches. “You definitely don’t want that to happen, but I don’t know all the details.”
Brown’s explanation of his garbage time philosophy appears to conflict with his message in training camp, when the coach said he would prioritize health over chasing wins.
“The biggest thing is making sure you’re paying attention to everyone’s minutes instead of trying to chase games,” Brown said on September 30. “There might be matches where you might throw in the towel early.
“It’s important to win, but you also have to understand, ‘Hey, I want to keep this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, instead of trying to extend everyone’s minutes.
“Because if the season is long, we don’t want anyone to be exhausted at the end.”
Trying to prevent the end of New York’s five-game winning streak on Wednesday, Brown chased the win and Brunson twisted his ankle — the same one that cost him a month last season after a sprain.
So the Knicks started Miles McBride on Friday, who is more of a shooting guard.
The Knicks are weak at the position following the sudden retirement of Malcolm Brogdon in the preseason, with Tyler Kolek as the only natural point guard after Brunson.
Despite that conundrum, in retrospect, it still didn’t sound like Brown regretted his decision to leave Brunson in Wednesday’s garbage time. As he said, “If I feel like I have a chance, I’m going to try to win the game.”
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