{"id":716248,"date":"2026-04-23T00:27:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716248\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T00:27:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:27:36","slug":"mike-brown-keeping-anything-open-to-discussion-about-knicks-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716248\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown keeping anything ‘open to discussion’ about Knicks’ rotation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days after Mike Brown spent part of his postgame news conference standing by his rotation decision-making<\/a>, with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench at the same time during two stretches of Game 2, the Knicks head coach reiterated his trust in any player on the court.<\/p>\n

But he also acknowledged before the Knicks left Tarrytown for Atlanta on Wednesday that anything can change in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, anything\u2019s open to discussion offensively, defensively,\u201d Brown said when asked if he\u2019d be comfortable making that same lineup decision again or if he\u2019d like to limit it. \u201cMaybe changing this defensively. Maybe changing that offensively. I\u2019m comfortable with all of our guys playing, no matter who the five is out there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the end of the day, just like offensively and defensively, I mean we changed both of those things halfway through the year. Anything can happen, and when you\u2019re in the playoffs, everything should be on the table. But I do feel comfortable with what we\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first instance of Brunson and Towns on the bench at the same time occurred after Jordan Clarkson subbed in for Brunson between the first and second quarter, with Towns already on the bench from when he checked out with 2:48 left in the opening frame. <\/p>\n

When the stretch with both out began, the Knicks led 32-23. By the time they entered again midway through the second quarter, that initial advantage had already been erased. The Knicks, at one point, had even trailed before rebuilding a five-point edge as the pair checked back in.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Knicks head coach Mike Brown reacts on the baseline during the first quarter of Game 2. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

Then, Brown kept the pair off the court again for the final 1:50 of the third quarter and the opening 4:04 of the fourth. And while the Knicks still had a nine-point lead when Brunson and Towns checked back in with just under eight minutes remaining in the game, it had originally been a 12-point advantage.<\/p>\n

The Knicks bench, outside of Mitchell Robinson, has struggled to produce for the opening two games of the series. That was only amplified when Brunson and Towns were on the bench together. But Brown\u2019s trust still hasn\u2019t wavered \u2014 at least for now.<\/p>\n

\"JordanJordan Clarkson in action during Game 2. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

CJ McCollum again dodged a chance to truly embrace the role as the Knicks villain in this series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After dropping 32 points Monday and fielding \u201cF\u2013k you, CJ\u201d chants from fans inside the Garden, McCollum downplayed it as a \u201chostile\u201d environment after his performance that, as Hawks teammate Onyeka Okongwu said, \u201cshut that Knicks crowd up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just fans booing you or cheering you on,\u201d McCollum said Wednesday in Atlanta. \u201cIt\u2019s really not that serious. I think when you look at it that way, it\u2019s just a game. It\u2019s fun to compete at the highest level. It\u2019s fun to be recognized by people, but I don\u2019t play for Spike Lee\u2019s approval. I don\u2019t play for Knicks fans\u2019 approval. I don\u2019t play for anybody\u2019s approval. I play for my family, myself and God, so it\u2019s just a game, at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday will mark the Hawks\u2019 first home postseason game since 2023, and Okongwu expected it to be \u201cvery, very loud\u201d at State Farm Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, you know, Knicks fans are gonna be there as well, but I know ATL faithful will be there as well,\u201d Okongwu said. \u201cExcited for [Thursday] night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Backup Atlanta center Jock Landale was again ruled out with a right high ankle sprain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two days after Mike Brown spent part of his postgame news conference standing by his rotation decision-making, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,304,3357,6,11,56381,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-716248","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-knicks","10":"tag-mike-brown","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-playoffs","13":"tag-nba-playoffs-2026","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-knicks","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkknicks","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116451190684728088","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716248","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=716248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}