Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and Coach Mike Brown Post Preseason Game Media | October 4, 2025

Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, and Coach Mike Brown Post Preseason Game Media | October 4, 2025

Um I’m just wondering after the first game you had said that you wanted faster pace on every possession. Did you feel that that was better in this game and just my second question would be your takeaways from the trip overall? Yeah, I I thought our pace was better tonight. Uh we didn’t take care of the ball like we should have in transition though um because our floor wasn’t always spaced and sometimes we got too deep and tried to finish in a crowd. Um, so you know, the the pace was better I think overall. Um, we just got to do a better job taking care of the ball. And your second question was it was it was a great trip. Uh, we really enjoyed it. Um, the people here were very welcoming. Um, we couldn’t ask for a better environment to be with our families and and each other and and I thought we we got a lot out of the trip. Now we’ll go home. We’ll regroup and uh we’ll just keep trying to get a little bit better every day knowing that, you know, as we go along, we’ll probably take a couple of steps back. We can’t get discouraged when that happens and then we’ll just start stacking days again the right way. In the middle, please. Uh, Coach Stefan Bondi from the New York Post. I I got two for you. One is how do you think Jaylen so far has adapted to to your your coaching in the new system and second question is um coach nurse just said you got you know you got a couple leakouts on them that you guys weren’t doing in the first game and um you were speeding it up. I guess it’s back to the question of the pace and how you felt about how you handled that today. Yeah, I I I thought again I thought our pace was was pretty good even after makes. And you know, we want to play fast all the time, whether it’s a make or miss, we want to space the floor the right way all the time. And you know, Philly, they like to pressure you full court. And um you know, they’re they’re athletic and they’re really quick, especially their guards. And so, you know, we told our guys, hey, if you get pressure, go buy them if you can and touch the paint. And if you could finish, finish, but if you draw a second guy, spray it. And I thought our guys did a pretty good job of knowing when to get out. They busted their behinds really hard, especially to the corners. And they did a pretty good job as the game went along of touching the paint and try to spray it. The first half, we weren’t good with it. We had, I think, one spray in the first half and we want to average, you know, 17, 18 sprays a game. And so, we have to do a better job there. We took some tough shots and, you know, Philly made us take a couple of tough shots, but we have to be more disciplined and and get what we want instead of forcing shots like I thought we did tonight, although our pace was better. Oh, yeah. Jaylen, he he’s starting to adjust. You can see it. Um, I think this is going to be good for him because you can see how much space he has when he brings the ball. And again, if you want to pressure a guy like Jaylen with that much space, uh, he it’s pretty good chance that he can make you pay for it. And, um, so I I like that aspect of it. And then, you know, him just getting used to run run run and still be effective whether you’re on the ball or off the ball. It was it was great to see. You could see he’s starting to get his feet underneath him a little bit and understand how to play at that frantic pace and still be effective and know where his shots are going to be or come from on the left hand side of the back. Seb Coach Brown, I didn’t get the chance to ask you this last time. You were praising Ariel uh as far as game. Your thoughts on his performance today and then also a little bit maybe about his role going forward, how you envision it. Ariel is a great runner. He’s not a good runner. He’s a great runner and so he’s got to be able to use that every single possession. He’s got to know how to use it. Um he used it really good I thought in game one. I thought he was decent tonight. He could be better. Um he’s got fantastic feet so he can guard one through five in my opinion. Not only that he could protect the basket because he has great feet and pretty good awareness. Now, what he has to do, he’s got to understand that if I’m a little late getting there, I can still get there and I can go vertical. Not like this, but I can go vertical and take it in the chest. And uh our defensive player of the game tonight was Trey Jimson. And it was him because he played eight minutes or nine minutes and he had two verticalities. I mean, they were picture perfect. He went over to help. He went vertical. He took the hit. He didn’t fold. there was no foul and you could see how tough it is for a guy to take that hit and still try to finish. So he Trey impacted the game at a extremely high level on the defensive end of the floor. And that’s something that Ariel can do every second he’s on the floor just because he’s so long, so athletic, and so quick, but we got to keep working with him to get him there. Final question in the middle, please. Hi coach, it’s Daniel from Open Code Basketball Germany. Um, we saw Pak starting in the first game. Von Stew in Deutsland. Yes. In uh near Frankfurt. Ah, Ivona in uh Fberburg. Worsburg. Yeah, that’s crazy. Yes. DJK kickers. That’s it. Perfect. Um, how do you value Pakcom Dia’s performance um overall to the two games? Uh, he was solid for a young guy. You know, I I tell you what, you know, we emphasize offensive rebounding and he had a beautiful crash of the glass and, you know, he’s long, he’s athletic. He went up, got the ball, and he sprayed it and we end up knocking down a three. Um, he could be a monster defensively. He’s just got to play with a sense of urgency defensively and an awareness u every single possession. every once in a while he just relaxes. And when he relaxes, he’s not using his length and his athleticism and all the other attributes that he has to make him a great defender. So, he’s just got to stay in tune and play with a sense of urgency defensively. And then offensively, he’s got to understand how to space the floor if he’s got he’s got to know when to cut, when to move up, when to slide down. Uh but for a young guy, he had a solid solid two games. Thanks so much, coach. Congrats on the win. Thank you. Hello. Congratulations on the win. Uh I’m Wayne from Hong Kong representing local magazine AA Sport Connect. Um how’s playing in Abu Dhabi influenced your performance both on court and off courts? Um I mean playing here was great. Um experience here was amazing. Um uh seeing the fans and uh being able to do what we do on the court and then still have fun on the off the court. So, uh, great bonding experience for us and I’m just happy we were able to come away with a couple wins. Next question in the middle, uh, OG Stefan Bondi from the New York, uh, New York Post. Um, how, you know, coming, you know, not playing the previous game and coming in here, did you, how did you find a rhythm so quickly and how do you feel out there? Uh, just playing the right way, you know, uh, the ball comes, be ready to shoot, and if it’s not there, pass it. Just playing the right way. So, it’s pretty easy. Thank you. We’re going to take next question on the front on the right. Hey Jaylen, I’m Owen from Hong Kong A Sports Connect. So last season you averaged over 26 points and led the Knicks to the conference finals, but the team just fell short this year with the addition of Jordan Clarkson and other players. How do you see this group’s chemistry evolving to finally break through to the finals and eventually win the championship? Yeah, for us it’s going to be a step-by-step process. Um not just going to jump back into the finals uh or conference finals. Um we have some great additions that are going to help us. Um this journey is going to be a long journey and so how we go about it every single day trying to get better is because it’s going to help us. So um we’re not really focusing on the end product just focusing on our journey. Thank you. Sticking with the front row uh Hassan Abdal from number one media Dubai OB. How did you see personal readiness for the reason after these two games? Did you say it again? How did you see your personal readings for this season after this diamonds? Personal read um how do I see personal what? Readiness. Readiness. Oh yeah. I think um me personally or the team? Oh, me personally, um, I mean, that’s what the preseason’s for, to prepare and, get ready, and, you know, training camp, you know, go through stuff, learn the new system. We have a new coach, so every day we’re learning and building, and each day it’s getting better and better. So, I feel like it’s getting better each day. So, I I feel ready and I think when the when the season starts, I think we’ll all be ready to go. Thank you guys. Left-hand side. Next question. Hey, Jaylen. Steve Paer from News Day. Um, Nick Nurse was talking about you guys getting some leak outs today and doing some things to counter what they had done in the first game to the starting unit. Just are there different ways, I guess Mike talks about pace and speed. Are there different ways besides just racing that you guys are finding that you can do that? Yeah. Um, I mean pace doesn’t necessarily mean fast. Obviously, we want to get the ball across half court in a certain time frame, but um, it’s all about playing smart and just seeing what the defense does and just reading that. um occasion I don’t we weren’t really trying to leak out but we’re just trying to sprint corners and we’re getting behind the defense we’re able to get layups and so um as long as we come away with a stop and then that allows us to run. Thank you. Next question on the right please. Hi this is Dream from the National. Jaylen, a question for you just a bit of a followup. Obviously the coach has been speaking about pace and speed and all of that. First two games now under this new system. How how do you feel you’ve adjusted in these two games and how comfortable are you feeling? Yeah. Uh, I’m comfortable. Uh, we’re still adjusting and, um, that’s the process of this of the the entire season. You know, you’re not just going to be who you are at the end of training camp. You’re going to continue to get better throughout the season. So, um, I think the longer that we’re we’re going through this and understanding what it is that is needed of us and asked of us, the better we’re going to be.

The New York Knicks host media availabilities after preseason game in Abu Dhabi on October 4, 2025

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