{"id":625729,"date":"2026-02-26T09:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625729\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T09:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:29:18","slug":"knicks-struggling-with-one-of-mike-browns-key-concepts-after-all-star-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625729\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks struggling with one of Mike Brown\u2019s key concepts after All-Star break"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows New York Knicks players Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson talking during a game, Image 2 shows New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown directing his team against the Chicago Bulls<\/p>\n

The Knicks have struggled with one of coach Mike Brown\u2019s core principles coming out of the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

He has spent all season urging the Knicks to play with pace. They remain in the bottom half of the league in that regard, but they have played faster than last year under Tom Thibodeau.<\/p>\n

In four games since the break, though, the Knicks are averaging 97.25 possessions per game \u2014 down from their season-long mark of 98.57 per game.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

Josh Hart the Knicks talks with Jalen Brunson during the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena on February 24, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we have to try and do better, especially offensively, is play with pace,\u201d Brown said after the Knicks\u2019 blowout loss in Cleveland<\/a> on Tuesday night. \u201cOur pace is not good. We have to do a better job of getting to the corners. We have to do a better job of playing with pace in the frontcourt.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Tuesday\u2019s loss, the Knicks had just 95 possessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were running through mud tonight,\u201d Brown said, \u201cno matter what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Knicks<\/p>\n

Knicks head coach Mike Brown directs his team against the Chicago Bulls during the first half at United Center. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

With that loss to the Cavaliers, the Knicks are now tied with Cleveland in the standings. And the Cavaliers are red-hot since acquiring James Harden ahead of the trade deadline \u2014 they are 6-1 with Harden.<\/p>\n

But the Cavaliers suffered a few injuries.<\/p>\n

Harden suffered a fracture in his right thumb<\/a> in that game, the team announced on Wednesday. The outlook is positive, however \u2014 he was listed as questionable for the team\u2019s game against the Bucks on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Donovan Mitchell also suffered a groin strain in Tuesday\u2019s game and was out Wednesday.<\/p>\n

If the Knicks and Cavaliers meet in the playoffs, Cleveland has established its best option to guard Jalen Brunson.<\/p>\n

Across the three matchups this year, Dean Wade has primarily guarded Brunson for the Cavaliers. According to NBA.com\u2019s tracking stats, Brunson has just six points and has shot 1-for-16 from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range when Wade was matched up with him.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Brunson went 1-for-4 from the field and 0-for-2 from deep with Wade on him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows New York Knicks players Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,329,305,193,5759,864,288,560,327,304,3357,6,1136,191,3810,3806],"class_list":{"0":"post-625729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-chicago-bulls","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","12":"tag-dean-wade","13":"tag-donovan-mitchell","14":"tag-jalen-brunson","15":"tag-james-harden","16":"tag-josh-hart","17":"tag-knicks","18":"tag-mike-brown","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-new-york","21":"tag-new-york-knicks","22":"tag-newyork","23":"tag-newyorkknicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116136232693473282","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}