New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown challenged his team to improve its attention to detail after the reigning NBA champions fell to 0-3 with a 111-102 loss to the Orlando Magic on Sunday.
Brown pointed to turnovers, defensive closeouts and rebounding as key problems, saying the Knicks must clean up those areas while they work through their early-season shooting struggles.
“We got to make sure that we do a better job of focusing on taking care of the ball,” Brown said. “We throw the ball down here, we throw the ball, it goes through our hands, and we jump in there and throw, you know, and those turnovers, they convert the other way.”
The Knicks committed 14 turnovers against Orlando, including eight in the fourth quarter, when the Magic outscored them 40-27. New York also struggled from beyond the arc, making just nine of 38 three-point attempts.
Brown stressed that the team must maintain its concentration for all 48 minutes, particularly when its shots are not falling.
“We do a pretty good job on some of the closeouts, and then other closeouts we stop short, especially to a hot guy, and we let him shoot a comfortable shot,” Brown said. “We play great defense, right? Make him take a tough shot, and we don’t box out.”
He added that New York had not consistently reached its expected level of three-point shooting during the opening games.
“Not that we’re a 42% three-point shooting team, but we’re better than what we’re doing right now from the line,” Brown said. “There’s some things, some little things that we have to embrace for 48 minutes, lock in with our concentration and our effort on those little things to help us get over the hump until we get out of this shooting zone.”
Brown also addressed the Knicks’ rotation, explaining that he plans to use Andre Drummond in shorter stretches after the center struggled to find a rhythm against Orlando. James Wiseman earned another opportunity after performing well in practice.
“Everybody else after that, until we can find something where we’re consistent, I’m going to try to give guys opportunity,” Brown said.
Despite New York’s championship pedigree, Brown said the coaching staff would not treat the slow start as something that could be fixed with a simple change in attitude. He emphasized that the team must build better habits in practice and carry them into games.
“I’ll really jump their ass if I see the effort not there,” Brown said. “Sometimes you got to fight through stuff like this to get yourself on track.”
Brown delivered an even more blunt assessment of the team’s current level.
“Our crap stinks. It does. And we’re the only ones that can do something about it,” he said. “There’s no light switch that we can just turn on and think we’re going to go win ball games. Nobody’s going to give us anything.”
The Knicks will try to earn their first win of the season when they host the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.
