{"id":703199,"date":"2026-04-07T11:53:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703199\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:53:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:53:29","slug":"mike-brown-not-against-knicks-starting-lineup-switch-just-not-right-now-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703199\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown not against Knicks starting lineup switch \u2014 just not right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Knicks head coach Mike Brown reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks, Monday, April 6, 2026, Image 2 shows Onyeka Okongwu of the Atlanta Hawks drives past Josh Hart and Og Anunoby of the New York Knicks<\/p>\n

ATLANTA \u2014 Mike Brown acknowledged discussing a starting lineup change \u2014 \u201cthere\u2019s always going to be chatter about it\u201d \u2014 but isn\u2019t close to acting and, at least for now, anticipates the status quo for the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe in never ever. But right now we\u2019re going to start that five and that\u2019s how I foresee it,\u201d the coach said. \u201cIf I feel I need to make a change at any time, I\u2019ll make a change. But I don\u2019t feel that way right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

League sources said moving Landry Shamet into the lineup was discussed. Earlier this season, Brown altered his starting lineup, replacing Mitchell Robinson with Josh Hart.<\/p>\n

Brown said Monday his staff convinced him to abandon the original double-big lineup (with Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns), a move made in December.<\/p>\n

\"Onyeka<\/p>\n

Onyeka Okongwu #17 of the Atlanta Hawks drives against Josh Hart #3 and Og Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks during the first quarter at State Farm Arena on April 06, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s debate literally all the time. Obviously there was a debate at the start of the season when we started two bigs [Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns]. And there was debate almost every day because I was the only one with that [opinion] \u2014 and I was getting hammered at this angle, that angle, every angle. So we talked about it a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just chatter that you have throughout the course of the year, trying to find ways to improve your team. So I think there\u2019s always going to be chatter about [changing the lineup now]. \u2026 But there\u2019s nothing I\u2019ve felt close to acting on yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current Knicks starting lineup \u2014 Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Hart, OG Anunoby, Towns \u2014 had habitually produced poor first quarters before Monday\u2019s 108-105 victory over the Hawks<\/a>. It had the third-most minutes together in the NBA but carried a net rating of just plus-0.7 \u2014 including a first-quarter net rating of minus-8.1 in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

But they built a three-point lead before the first sub Monday, and they closed out the win together with a clutch run down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Brown used his likely nine-man playoff rotation with Miles McBride, Robinson, Shamet and Jordan Clarkson coming off the bench.<\/p>\n

\"Knicks<\/p>\n

Knicks head coach Mike Brown reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks, Monday, April 6, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

It meant Jose Alvarado picked up his first healthy DNP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m good. I\u2019m chilling,\u201d Alvarado, acquired at the trade deadline by Leon Rose, said. \u201cI\u2019m ready for my moment. I\u2019m ready for my name to get called whenever it is. \u2026 So just whenever it\u2019s Jose\u2019s time, whenever that time is, I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Towns said his right elbow impingement \u2014 which kept him out of Saturday\u2019s win over the Bulls \u2014 has been an issue \u201cfor a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is what it is at this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Knicks head coach Mike Brown reacts during the second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[208,7,288,2131,11053,327,563,304,4988,1260,3357,2715,1247,6,1136,191,3810,3806,741,493,14311],"class_list":{"0":"post-703199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-jalen-brunson","11":"tag-jordan-clarkson","12":"tag-jose-alvarado","13":"tag-josh-hart","14":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","15":"tag-knicks","16":"tag-landry-shamet","17":"tag-mikal-bridges","18":"tag-mike-brown","19":"tag-miles-mcbride","20":"tag-mitchell-robinson","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-new-york","23":"tag-new-york-knicks","24":"tag-newyork","25":"tag-newyorkknicks","26":"tag-og-anunoby","27":"tag-onyeka-okongwu","28":"tag-starting-lineup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116363292355760856","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703199","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=703199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}