Barbara Barker: Mike Brown 'perfect' Knicks coach? Steve Kerr thinks so
Knicks head coach Mike Brown reacts in the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Madison Square Garden on May 4. Credit: Newsday/Jr.
It's been a few days since the Knicks completed their sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers, and their stunning offensive explosion in Game 4 continues to be the talk of the league.
No less than Steve Kerr, whose motion offense at Golden State is often cited as the blueprint for Mike Brown’s current Knicks offense, told Newsday that he was left awestruck with how it all came together for the Knicks in the first two quarters of their 144-114 closeout win in Philadelphia.
“That first half was one of the greatest offensive displays I’ve seen in a playoff game,” Kerr said when reached by phone Monday. “They are playing so fast. So aggressively. Every single guy is playing with incredible confidence. There is an energy and juice about them that jumps off the screen. It is hugely impressive watching them play.
“It’s beautiful to watch, but it’s not an accident. I believe Mike was the perfect guy for that job.”
As much as I believe Tom Thibodeau did not deserve to be fired after taking the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals last year, Kerr — along with the way the Knicks are now playing — make a pretty strong case for Brown being the right guy to take the Knicks to the next level.
Kerr knows both Brown and the Knicks well, uniquely situating him to comment on the job that the first-year Knicks coach has done.
Brown was Kerr’s lead assistant in Golden State for six seasons from 2016 until he was hired as the Kings' coach in 2022. He was at Kerr’s side for three of Golden State’s four title runs. During that time and his short stint at Sacramento afterward, Kerr watched Brown evolve from a detail-obsessed, defensive-oriented coach to one who stresses the value of delegation and collaboration and embraces the value of playing fast and free.
Kerr also has an understanding of just how demanding the Knicks job is. He did, after all, almost take it in 2014. At the last second, Kerr turned the job down to take the one in Golden State, despite his close relationship with then-Knicks president Phil Jackson. Since then, the Knicks have had seven different coaches including Brown, while Kerr is still at Golden State, where he agreed to a two-year extension this week.
Now, after an up-and-down regular season that involved some significant growing pains, Brown has the Knicks playing their most dominant basketball in the playoffs since, well, maybe Walt (Clyde) Frazier was the point guard.
The Knicks have won seven straight games since falling behind Atlanta, 2-1, in their first-round series. They won their closeout games over the Hawks and 76ers by a total of 81 points. At this point, the Knicks have to be favored in the conference finals to beat either Detroit or Cleveland, who are slugging it out in an Eastern Conference semifinal series that is tied 2-2.
This is quite an accomplishment for a Knicks team that had some significant highs and lows during the regular season. And while Brown’s decision to begin running the offense through Karl-Anthony Towns after the Knicks fell behind Atlanta in the first round has been widely credited for the team’s seemingly sudden transformation into an offensive powerhouse, Kerr said the Knicks' success has more to do with what they went through during the season and “the confidence they are now playing with” rather than “any tactical adjustments.”
Kerr said Brown has the right kind of even-keeled personality to help the team weather some of the lows of the regular season as they searched to establish their identity while playing for an owner who declared anything less than a trip to the NBA Finals would be considered a failure. While Thibodeau approached every Knicks game like it was his last, Brown often seemed oblivious to the drama of the moment, which can actually be a good thing.
In early January, shortly after winning the NBA Cup, the Knicks went through a 2-9 stretch. In March, when the Knicks were struggling to beat good teams, Kerr came in with his Golden State team and recalled that you could almost feel the tension at Madison Square Garden.
“We had a lot of injuries and we almost beat them with our second team,” Kerr said of the Knicks' 110-107 victory on March 15. “There was a vibe there at the Garden where you could tell everyone was on edge. That’s probably life in New York, but it’s also life as a contender when you are starting out the season with great expectations from fans, ownership and management.
“The beauty of Mike is he’s very comfortable in his own skin. When you go through these difficult nights like the one they had in March against us, Mike is exactly the right guy. When people are freaking out, Mike is the guy you want to steady the ship. He did that all year. Now, they are playing their best basketball. They are confident. fast, loose and aggressive. It’s beautiful to watch.”
For Knicks fans who haven’t seen their team get to the NBA Finals since 1999, it certainly is. How good does Kerr think they can be?
“They’re already in the conference finals. They are really, really damn good,” Kerr said. “I think they will be a heavy favorite in the conference finals. Regardless, they are one of the very best teams in the league. I think Mike recognized that when he got there. He knew the great work Tom had done and he knew the foundation was there and he wanted to take it and see if he could build on that.
“It seems like he has.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
