The New York Knicks made it all the way to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season before ultimately falling just short to the Indiana Pacers. That’s their best finish as a team since they were knocked out by the same 4-2 score in the 2000 ECF, ironically by the Pacers once again.
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Despite their best run in a quarter of a century, the Knicks parted ways with head coach Tom Thibodeau shortly after being eliminated, shocking many people around the league. All pressure is now on new head coach Mike Brown, especially since he’s inherited one of the few elite rosters around the league that will enter the season without any major injuries.
The Knicks held their media day yesterday, and Brown said that there were two goals he hoped to accomplish in his first year at the helm.
“The one thing that we want to make sure we do offensively, we want to play fast, with the floor spaced,” Brown said. “Not just in the full court, but in the half court too.”
“Defensively, we want to be physical, and we want people to feel us, and we want to do so without fouling,” he continued. “And so those are two things at the forefront of what I’d like to get accomplished early on with this team,” he added.
Brown will have his work cut out for him to alter the Knicks’ playing style so drastically. For one thing, the roster is largely the same, as the two biggest offseason acquisitions, Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele, are expected to be bench pieces. For another, the Knicks ranked 23rd out of 30 teams in possessions per game, as they preferred to play a slower, half court style.
Brown’s defensive philosophy sounds similar to Thibodeau’s, so he shouldn’t need to make any sweeping changes there. One area where he can have an impact though is with the way he distributes minutes. Thibs was known for playing his top guys more than anyone else in the league, but Brown has the opportunity to reduce the workload of his stars and rely on an improved bench.
The Eastern Conference, at least for now, is shaping up to potentially be a two-horse race between the Knicks and Cavs. The Pacers will be without Knicks-killer Tyrese Haliburton as he recovers from his torn Achilles, plus they lost Myles Turner to the Bucks in free agency.
The Celtics are dealing with Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tear, and they will also have to adjust to life without Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday as they integrate Anfernee Simons into the roster. Beyond that, it would take a major leap for teams like the Magic or Hawks to break into that conversation.
Thibodeau was fired after a great season, so it’s clear that anything less than the Knicks’ first Finals appearance since 1999 will be looked at as a failure. Brown has experience getting there, as his Cavs were Eastern Conference champs in 2007. He also won rings as a Spurs assistant in 2003 and a Warriors assistant in 2022.
Brown will be put to the test in his first game when the Knicks host the Cavs in a possible Eastern Conference Finals preview. That game will be nationally televised on ESPN on Wednesday, October 22.
