Mike Brown wasn’t happy with the performance of the New York Knicks players against the Washington Wizards.
Despite it being the preseason, the New York Knicks’ loss to the Washington Wizards was a big surprise.
Knicks head coach Mike Brown paid the price by resting Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and other Knicks starters for this game.
New players like Malcolm Brogdon and Gershon Yabusele failed to break into the starting lineup and showed why they are at the top of the table.
Mikal Bridges’ early verdict on Mike Brown was to hold the player accountable for every decision. And the coach’s postgame comments prove Bridges is absolutely right.
Mike Brown said after the Knicks’ 120-103 loss to the Wizards that he didn’t hold back on the players he decided to start.
He liked what the players on the bench brought to the table, but the Knicks didn’t always have the right energy. But Brown ended things on a positive note, saying it was a great experience.
“Our starters didn’t bring energy. This was probably the worse of the basketball game overall, and we did it in spurts. We didn’t start the game very well, and we didn’t start the third quarter very well either.”
“I thought the guys that came off the bench did a great job. Tyler (Kolek) gave us great minutes. Garrison (Matthews) and Trey (Jemison)…even Tousan (Ebbuomwan) coming on the floor was good for us.”
“They didn’t do anything really tricky. Defensively they were in just the right spot. They were trying to play like we’ve been playing all preseason and every day in practice.”
“We showed very good basketball at times. Offensively, again, we didn’t do anything different. When the second group came in, they tried to space the floor and play with pace.”
“It wasn’t always there, but they tried to do it…We have to collectively do better as a unit when it comes to doing the little things…
“Defensively, our shifts weren’t very good. We’ve been very good in those two areas so far… It’s a great movie to study from. We made a lot of mistakes that are not typical of us.
“We’ve played much better than this in practice as well in terms of understanding what we’re trying to do both offensively and defensively. It’s been a great learning experience and we’ll all grow from it…”
Losing in the preseason doesn’t really matter, regardless of the opponent. Especially if you lose a game in which none of your starters played.
So far, when the Knicks have had their starters on the floor, they have played well and won games. So even if a bench player starts a game and loses one game, Knicks fans won’t be able to sleep at night.
The Knicks have one more preseason game left as they face the Charlotte Hornets this weekend.
Closing out the preseason with a win could give them momentum heading into next week’s season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers.