The morning of the Dallas Mavericks game, I got a haircut. Since moving from Astoria to Long Island, the struggle has been real to find a good barber. That morning, the barber I visited happened to be a Knicks fan. An hour later, as I left the shop, he said to me, “Hey man, give the Knicks some luck tonight.”
That didn’t happen…
Despite the fresh cut and great conversation, the Knicks went on to get smacked at home by the Mavs on MLK Day, in what could only be described as the worst performance of the season. In his postgame interview, Mike Brown was asked about how he was going to motivate his players, given their recent run of poor results.
Brown sternly replied, “I have some ideas.”
Shortly afterwards, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that captain Jalen Brunson held a “player’s only” meeting to right the ship. This was later refuted by Josh Hart, but at the very least, we know that a conversation occurred.
After that loss, the Knicks went on to win seven straight, playing some of the most inspired basketball fans had seen all season. Credit Mike Brown, as some of his “ideas” appeared to be shortening the rotation to nine players, which resulted in benching Jordan Clarkson. Reporters around the team also credited Brown’s second half adjustments during games.
The players themselves have also suggested that the discussion, post-Mavericks loss, led to less finger-pointing and more individual accountability. Whatever has happened, the Knicks are back where they want to be: second place in the Eastern Conference, after winning their seventh game in a row, and overall, seven victories of their last 10 games.
50 games into the season, the analytics paint the following picture: the Knicks rank third in offensive rating,(up one spot from our last check-in) 12th in defensive rating (up five spots), and fourth in net rating (up four spots). In fact, over the last 10 games, the Knicks own the league’s top defensive rating (103.6).
