The New York Knicks produced their best performance of the season when they earned a 135-105 home win over the lowly Chicago Bulls (1-7) that improved the Knicks to 4-4 on Wednesday night.
That said, Knicks head coach Mike Brown clearly didn’t like what he saw when he called a timeout with 31 seconds remaining in the first quarter and his team leading 43-21.
Mike Brown wants Knicks to get out of “bad habits”
“We hit a three, we celebrated the three, and they got a layup on the other end…that’s one of the little things that we talk about embracing playing with next play speed, playing the right way no matter what the score is…(by not doing that). That’s how you build bad habits,” Brown explained, per Ian Begley or CUT.
Since New York’s season-opening loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 20, Knicks captain and 2026 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jalen Brunson has openly said that he and his teammates need to “humble ourselves” and to stop hearing “what a great job we did” amid the club’s championship run this past spring.
As Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News noted, three of the Knicks’ four victories this season following the club’s 0-3 start came against opponents with three wins combined. Thus, it’s understandable that Brown said before what became a victory over the Bulls that his side “can play better” and is “hungry for more.”
Mike Brown was ready to protect Jalen Brunson from himself
Brunson spent the summer recovering from aminor procedure he needed to repair a tendon issue in his dominant left wrist. As SNY’s Julia Yohe shared, Brunson outscored Chicago 22-21 in the game’s first quarter before he was given just 17 more minutes of action in the lopsided victory.
“He’s about as durable as anybody I’ve been around,” Brown said about Brunson. “He’s mentally tough, physically tough, and he can push himself to go. …But at the end of the day, it’s going to impact him, in my opinion, come playoff time, so I have to be conscious of not going to the well too much, especially at this point in the season.”
Brunson and Co. will have an opportunity to make a statement against an Eastern Conference contender when the Knicks play at the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-4) on Saturday night.