Knicks head coach Mike Brown acknowledged Philadelphia’s execution after New York’s 130-119 defeat Saturday at Madison Square Garden. “You have to give credit to Philadelphia. They played a really good basketball game,” he said.
Brown emphasized Tyrese Maxey’s impact. “Maxey was a handful for us. Then we tried to take the ball out of his hands. They did a great job of moving the basketball… and they made the right plays or shots when we took the ball out of his hands,” he explained.
The loss marked New York’s first three-game losing streak of the season. Brown reflected on the challenge of adversity. “We’ve had a bit of adversity. I’ve never been part of a team that hasn’t had adversity over the course of the year… now for us it’s about how do we respond?”
Brown addressed the Knicks’ struggles with the offensive defense. “Right now we’re not as physical as we should be… we’re not navigating the ball screen like we should be,” he said, citing difficulty in pick-and-roll situations and foul trouble as factors.
Josh Hart’s absence has also affected New York’s pace and spacing. “It helps a lot to have Josh out there. It helps a lot to have Landry out there with his pace. Right now our pace is not good. We run the ball up almost every time,” Brown said.
Brown emphasized responsibility over official actions. “Officials are human beings… we can’t rely on the officials to win us the ball game. We have to go win it ourselves,” he said, noting that the team has to “give a little bit more in a lot of areas to help us get over the top.”
The Knicks’ offense has struggled to find rhythm in back-to-back losses. Brown said: “Our basic principles – full court pace and front court – we want to space the floor correctly, make quick decisions, touch the paint and get the ball turned over. We haven’t seen a lot of that.”
Brown also explained his lineup adjustments at the end of the game. “We had to score. We had to spread the floor, see if we could touch the paint and knock down some threes. Deuce is really good on offense, trying to get into a body and get over the top with the ball,” he said.
The 76ers improved to 19-14 behind Maxey’s 36 points and Joel Embiid’s 26, while the Knicks fell to 23-12 despite Jalen Brunson’s 31 points and Karl-Anthony Towns’ 23 points and 14 rebounds. Philadelphia now heads home to take on the Nuggets, and New York visits the Pistons on Monday.
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