New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown vented his frustration after his team lost to the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.
The Pacers entered the game with a poor 4-8 record, but they managed to edge out a 106-104 win over the Knicks, who dropped to 6-6 on the season with the loss.
After the game, Brown expressed his frustration over yet another disappointing loss by the defending NBA Champions.
Mike Brown Not Happy With Knicks’ Current Form
Speaking to reporters after the game, Brown made it clear that he’s unhappy with the team’s current form.
“They physically dominated us… (Ivica) Zubac impacted the game at an extremely high level… 9 offensive rebounds… Just like vs Cleveland, we lost the possession game––free throws + offensive rebounds + turnovers––by 21 points… We were fouling, I don’t know if we fouled that much, but we were fouling. They just kept putting their head down & driving into us, and we weren’t ready to play or didn’t do our work early, get into a stance, be ready to guard these guys off the dribble drive. And they just walked to the FT line time after time after time after time after time,” Brown said.
“Two games now where our opponents have had one guy who took same FTs as us. Last game (James) Harden. This game (Pascal) Siakam. We have to figure out how to defend without fouling while trying to get to FT line ourselves. That’s been an Achilles heel for us last two games. They were extremely physical defensively, on glass, and we couldn’t keep the ball in front of us––they kept touching the paint time and time and time again. And it was due to a lot of stuff––them playing fast, us not communicating and committing 2 to 1 guy at times, us not shifting––but at the POA on the ball we did not do a good job at all.”
Knicks Inconsistent This Season
The Knicks have been extremely inconsistent this season with a .500 record of 6-6, which currently has them sixth in the Eastern Conference.
There’s a lot of time to get things right, but you can understand why Brown has been so frustrated by his team’s play this year, as the team just can’t seem to get everyone clicking at the right time.
With that in mind, Brown received a technical foul out of frustration in the Pacers game, as he didn’t like how his squad was competing, and he also did not like the free-throw discrepancy between teams.
“I did get a T… they were playing harder… it was out of frustration. But we just had a game Jalen––an MVP candidate––0 FT. Then this game at half 20 FT vs 5… They’re missing some calls. Are we fouling? Yes… but discrepancy… 2 games in a row…That’s what I’m taking a look at…guys running & into you & snapping their head…we’re not getting those same calls,” Brown said.
The odds are that the Knicks will still make the playoffs when it’s all said and done, but losing to teams like the Pacers is disappointing.
Mike Brown Frustrated After Knicks Lose to Pacers