Are the Knicks and Mike Brown starting to find their groove?

New York Post

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00:00Is the Mike Brown master plan starting to come together?

00:03The Knicks are back in action tonight after a convincing win over the Bulls on Sunday.

00:09Jonathan Macri of Knicks Film School is on to talk some b-ball.

00:13Jay Mack, what's going on, man?

00:15You make it sound so official.

00:17I want to believe that Mike Brown has a literal master plan written out somewhere in his desk.

00:22I don't know if it's quite that official.

00:24But no, look, three and three, we'll talk about it.

00:27But I think all things considered, it's fine so far.

00:29All right, he may not have the master plan ironed out just yet,

00:32but he has this whole load management plan for Mitch Robinson.

00:37He's going to be out tonight, and I understand the plan with Mitch

00:41is to have him healthy for the playoffs,

00:43but do you feel like he's missing out on some key time early in the season?

00:50I guess, yeah, is he missing out on some key time early in the season?

00:54No, I think it's pretty obvious the way these games are unfolding.

00:58Mike Brown is, and I know we're going to get into this a little bit more later,

01:01he's trying to find combinations that work.

01:03He's trying to, you know, he overplayed maybe his bench the first handful of games.

01:08He cut the rotation down.

01:09So to think that this plan for Mitch Robinson,

01:13and I understand this has all been talked about, the whole thing,

01:15to understand that it is not impacting their ability to be a cohesive unit.

01:20Now, the thing I will say, obviously, is it is November,

01:24and Mitch Robinson needs to be healthy for April and May and hopefully June.

01:30I do wonder, though, where is the balance,

01:33and if there is a balance that they are hoping to achieve.

01:36It's a long season ahead of us.

01:37I trust that as long as Mitch Robinson does not sustain a serious injury,

01:42he will have enough time with the other guys here to get enough of a rhythm

01:46and go into the playoffs on a strong note.

01:50But for right now, you know, the Knicks are a 500 team,

01:53and if Mitch is still missing games here and there, you know,

01:56they might stay around that range.

01:58But we'll see.

01:59All right, so the Mitch-Rob plan is working for now.

02:02Now let's get to the Mike Brown master plan,

02:04because after that win against the Bulls last night,

02:07I think we can all agree that that was probably their most complete game early in the season.

02:13So are you starting to feel like or getting the feel that this is what this team should

02:19or could potentially look like in terms of identity under Mike Brown?

02:24Well, I think the identity really has been pretty consistent from opening night,

02:31which is that this is a team that wants to get into its first action fast

02:35with the ultimate goal of generating three-point shots.

02:38And they are, after last night's game, fourth in the league in three-point attempts.

02:45And after they were 19th in three-point percentage over the first five games,

02:48they're now all the way up to 13th.

02:50It's amazing what a hot shooting night will do for you.

02:52So I don't think there's ever been any confusion as to what the plan is.

02:56I think there were times where the team was maybe a little confused

03:01or a little unsure of itself as to how to get to, you know,

03:05the finish line that Mike wants on some of these possessions, which is where you saw,

03:09you know, I think especially with Jalen Brunson out of the game,

03:11some possessions have stalled a little bit.

03:13But again, overall, I know we always want things yesterday here in New York,

03:17but I would say things are looking pretty good after six games.

03:20Yeah, you mentioned pace.

03:21They had the 24-19 advantage in fast break points

03:25and then three-point shooting, which we've talked about as well.

03:28They shot, what, 47.6%.

03:31So great shooting night for them behind the arch.

03:34Another thing we talk about, this bench, the rotation.

03:37The bench outscored the Bulls' reserves 46-30.

03:41Jordan Clarkson had his best night of the season.

03:45And Mike Brown has said, like you say,

03:47he's had to do a better job of helping the bench get in some sort of rhythm.

03:52But realistically, is this bench a rotation as deep

03:56as everyone trying to make it out to be,

03:58or is it just being completely overhyped?

04:02I think there was a lot of optimism coming into the season

04:06on the fact that they made these additions

04:08and that they were going to be a deeper team.

04:11I think the reality has been a little bit more mixed.

04:14Now, Jordan Clarkson's always a guy that's going to run hot and cold.

04:16I think he's been fine.

04:17I think he's going to be fine.

04:18Josh Hart, his health issues have been well-documented.

04:21I thought he had his best game of the season last night.

04:24The guy, and look, I know he's gotten a lot of grief from fans already,

04:29but you kind of have to look at Gershon Yavaselli as someone that they went out

04:33and they spent almost their entire mid-level exception on this summer.

04:39He got two minutes last night.

04:40Now, is that somewhat related to, you know,

04:44a recent knee issue that kept him out of a game

04:46and had him listed as questionable?

04:48He wasn't on the injury report before yesterday's game,

04:51and Mike Brown afterwards, when asked about it,

04:53he's like, yeah, you know,

04:54someone's got to be that half a man in the nine-and-a-half-man rotation.

04:58They need more from him,

05:00especially when you look at, again, the Mitchell Robinson workload plan.

05:03You look at Ariel Huckporti, again,

05:04to get back to maybe the bench not being what it was cracked up to be.

05:07Huckporti has not looked great, you know, so far.

05:09So all of a sudden, the big man depth gets a little shallow.

05:12So I'll be curious to see, you know, how long it will take for Yavaselli

05:18to work his way back into Mike Brown's good graces,

05:21and might that coincide with him playing himself into shape

05:25over the course of this year?

05:26When you think about it, you know, they undefeated at home,

05:32deeper bench, and I guess the only milestone

05:35that needs to be checked off early in this season,

05:39I guess we can agree that it's a road win.

05:41They're home for the next six games.

05:44That includes tonight against the Wizards.

05:46But is there any cause for panic or concern

05:49that they're Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde away from the garden?

05:54Well, look, with the caveat that every year's team is its own team,

06:00you know, you know this from playing in the NFL,

06:02like just because you do something one year does not mean

06:05it will carry over to the next year.

06:06That said, I do believe that there is something in the DNA of this team

06:11where they have been an exceptional road team over the last few years.

06:14You think back to the first round last year in Detroit

06:18or against Detroit where they won all three road games,

06:21you know, against the Pistons.

06:24I'm not worried about it yet.

06:26That said, it would certainly help to see them win a road game,

06:30as you kind of implied that we won't get a chance to see that for a while.

06:33But look, you've got to be able to defend home court in the NBA,

06:36and the Knicks have not always been great at doing that.

06:38Again, to throw it back to last season's playoffs

06:40where they were not always great at home.

06:42So for as much as, yeah, they're going to need a road win at some point here,

06:45I'm going to try to choose to look at this glass half full

06:49and say, you know what, they're defending home court,

06:52and that's something worth celebrating.

06:53All right.

06:54J-Matt, appreciate you hopping on with us, man.

06:56Always appreciate you, Brandon.

06:57Thanks, man.

06:58Thanks, man.

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