Mike Brown was not a happy man with the way his New York Knicks players performed against the Washington Wizards.
Despite it being the preseason, it was a big surprise to see the New York Knicks lose to the Washington Wizards.
Knicks head coach Mike Brown rested Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and the rest of the Knicks’ starters for the game, and paid the price for it.
New signings like Malcolm Brogdon and Guerschon Yabusele did not put up a good showing in the starting role, showing why they are where they are in the pecking order.
Mikal Bridges’ early verdict on Mike Brown was that he held players accountable for all decisions. And the coach’s post-game comments prove Bridges is absolutely right.
Mike Brown not a fan of how New York Knicks played vs. Washington Wizards
Mike Brown spoke after the Knicks’ 120-103 loss to the Wizards, and didn’t hold back on the players who got the starting nod.
While he did like what the bench players brought, the Knicks didn’t consistently have the right energy. However, Brown ended things on a positive note, calling it a great experience.
“Our starters did not bring the energy. This is probably a worse basketball game overall, and we did it in spurts. We weren’t very good to start the game, and we weren’t very good at the start of the third quarter.
“I thought the guys coming off the bench did a great job. Tyler (Kolek) gave us great minutes. Garrison (Matthews) and Trey (Jemison)… even Tosan (Evbuomwan) were good for us out on the floor.
“They didn’t really do anything tricky. They were just in the right spot defensively. They tried to play the way we’ve been playing throughout the preseason and every day in practice.
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“It showed at times to be very good basketball. Offensively, again, we didn’t do anything different. When that second group came in, they tried to space the floor and play with the pace.
“It wasn’t there all the time, but they tried to do it… We have to do better collectively as a unit when it comes to doing the little things…
“Defensively, we weren’t great in our shifts. We’ve been pretty darn good in those two areas so far… A great film to learn from. We made a lot of mistakes that have been uncharacteristic of who we are so far.
“Even in practice, we’ve played a lot better than this, in terms of understanding what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively. A great learning experience, we’ll all grow from it…”
No need to panic for the New York Knicks
A loss in preseason really doesn’t matter, regardless of the opponent. Especially if it’s a loss where none of your starting players played.
So far, when the Knicks have had their starters on the court, they’ve played well and won games. So one loss where their bench players started the game won’t keep any Knicks fans up at night.
The Knicks have just one more preseason game remaining, as they play the Charlotte Hornets this weekend.
Closing out the preseason with a win could allow them to build momentum heading into their season opener next week against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
