NEW YORK - Peaks and valleys tell the story of the New York Knicks' season so far. Their path to the NBA Finals was open and clear when they were crowned 2025 NBA Cup champions in Las Vegas. Their blockbuster trades and offseason coaching changes were in question after a 2–9 slump. And everything went well in the eight-game winning streak that followed.
The Knicks have shown tremendous, championship-level potential, with superstar point guard Jalen Brunson in the MVP conversations. And he has essentially exposed all the issues on which pundits and scribes base their doubts.
Head coach Mike Brown has preached the importance of selectively losing memory. The goal is to stay grounded, which is similar to the philosophy of Knicks teams led by Tom Thibodeau. The coach, who has spent two-thirds of his first season with this group, says their midseason struggles are necessary evils that ultimately help lay the foundation for playoff success. He declared before their overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers that, based on his experience, the Knicks are on the right track.
"You hate to lose games, and I'm not signing up to lose games. But I believe we need to struggle a few times this year. ... It's going to test our resolve as a group. You've got to stay connected if you want to give yourself a chance. As the playoffs go on, there's nothing more stressful than that at the NBA level. Seven-game series, four of them, so it really tests your resolve. ... Being able to deal with some adversity." To be, go through it, stay connected, and hopefully you come out of it a little stronger than you were going into it, that's something I hope,” Brown told reporters before the All-Star break.
Knicks' path to NBA Finals clear after All-Star post, but not easy
Logical and methodical, Brown is focused on his group playing winning basketball. The coach was asked about the relative decline in production from All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns and his focus was solely on the games leading up to the eight-game winning streak. And when asked what he's learned about the Knicks players this season, he told the media that the locker room's solution-oriented approach to dealing with adversity has impressed him.
The coach confirmed last Tuesday, "The way they handled going 2-9 was really good. Because it could have been a lot of finger-pointing, infighting. And our guys were pretty steady in trying to find ways to right the ship."
The same structured, step-by-step approach that the Knicks' front office employed to build their current roster – doing research, gathering possessions, waiting for strike opportunities, and executing aggressively when they arise – is similar to Brown's systematic approach to coaching.
Like many coaches, he has fundamental principles that he wants his teams to follow. And it seems the coach has taken notice of the detail-oriented zeal with which he assigns roles to assistants or reportedly challenges players in practices within team captain Jalen Brunson and his teammates. Their responses to adversity so far have included acknowledging the issues at hand, discussing them as a team, and working with their coaches on implementing solutions.
All things considered, this process has been a winning formula so far. The ultimate test will still be in the postseason, and whether the Knicks can make that fourth seven-game series.
