Mike Brown and the Knicks went up against his former team, the Kings, tonight and came away with a rough 101-112 defeat after suffering an early setback. They lost their star player, Jalen Brunson, who tweaked his right ankle less than five minutes into the first quarter and exited the court.
But after the game, Brown did not solely point to Brunson’s absence as the reason for their loss. He was very disappointed with his team and used the press conference to let out his frustrations about the way the Knicks played.
“I give Sacramento a lot of credit; they did a great job defensively and offensively against us throughout the game. They kicked our behind, but the thing I’m most disappointed in is that we’re a team that touches the paint and sprays the basketball, but we had 12 sprays in the game,” said Brown as he began breaking down the Knicks’ loss in his opening remarks.
“We had plenty of opportunities to spray the basketball and play off of two feet, but we kept driving and shooting tough shots that we either missed or got blocked. For us to touch the paint as many times as we did but not share it or move it like we normally do was tough to see.”
For those of you who do not know, spraying is a technical term for passing the ball to a player who is open on the three-point line while driving in and collapsing the defense.
“The next thing is, we’re a no-middle team, and we gave up middle drives after middle drives. I give Precious Achiuwa a lot of credit; he was with me during the Nigerian national team, he had a big game, impacted the game in a lot of ways.”
“He had 20 points and 14 rebounds, but he’s a guy when you close out on him, we want to be the second jumper. And to start the game, we ran him off the line like three times. So we didn’t do a good job of following our game plan tonight,” Brown further added while scrutinizing the Knicks’ performance.
Brown went on to explain how failing to follow the game plan on Precious Achiuwa, the former Knicks player, as well as Russell Westbrook, cost them heavily tonight.
“You want to close his body, keep him on the sideline, and force him to put the ball on the ground and make plays. But we didn’t just run him off; we ran Russ off from the line as well, which started the dominoes for them to fall.”
“But their entire team, especially their starting five, played well tonight. And so to give up as many middle drives as we did was tough to watch.”
“Then lastly, we just fouled. I wish I could sit here and blame the referees, but I can’t blame the referees. Every time they drove the basketball, they drove it with force.”
“And I said, ‘Guys, they are driving into your chests. We’re driving away from the basket, trying to shoot a difficult shot. And when they are driving into your chest, we’re sticking our hands out. And when you stick your hands out, it’s going to be a foul.”
“We probably stuck our hands out two or three times, but sending a team to the free-throw line 20 times in the third quarter alone is tough to watch. Plus, our one-on-one defense was nonexistent tonight,” Brown further explained.
“So, a tough night; we have another tough one tomorrow. We can not play like we played today because this is one of the worst, if not the worst, I have seen us play in the entire year.”
He not only credited the Kings for sticking to their game plan well, but he also criticized the Knicks for failing to do so. When addressing the team’s response to finding out about Jalen Brunson’s injury, Brown had a blunt reaction.
“We didn’t respond, we didn’t respond at all. Again, I give the Kings credit because they took it to us, and we didn’t respond in any way, shape, or form.”
“But even before Jalen went out, we were just not following the game plan. I don’t know why, but we were just out there, going through the motions. And if you go through the motions in this league, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re going to get your behind kicked, and we got our behind kicked.”
Rumors have suggested that the Knicks are looking to add a defensive-minded playmaker and a backup big for Mitchell Robinson. If they find the right fit for that position, most of the problems that Brown just mentioned could be addressed directly. Two out of his three concerns will be solved if they have a defensive-minded playmaker who can “spray” the ball as well as guard one-on-one.
Mike Brown Addresses Karl-Anthony Towns’ Play For Lack Of Urgency
While talking about the Knicks’ lack of urgency, the former Kings head coach also referred to a play during the game where Karl-Anthony Towns failed to track back on transition defense after falling on the other end of the floor with nearly no contact.
“He drove, and something happened where he fell. When you fall, you’ve got to get up and sprint down the floor. Even if you’re the last guy back, you should be there just in case there’s a long rebound.”
Karl-Anthony Towns falls down driving to the basket, stays on the ground in the backcourt, and misses the easy loose ball rebound leading to a Kings 3 – Mike Brown heated on the sidelines
Via: https://t.co/CJeQvV1UPy pic.twitter.com/0igyzpRi9a
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) January 15, 2026
“But there was no urgency. That wasn’t the only play, there were many plays… And it was a five-point swing. If there’s a long rebound, he’s going to get it because he’s trailing the play. But we watched the play at halftime, and he didn’t even cross half-court.”
“That sums up what our night was,” concluded a disappointed Brown.
This loss has likely overshadowed any emotions that Brown may have felt from the warm welcome back from the Sacramento audience, who gave him a standing ovation on his return.
Nobody scored over 20 points individually for the Knicks, showing how much their offense is reliant on Brunson. With Brunson’s availability in question and the team plans falling apart, the Knicks have a lot to figure out heading to San Francisco for tomorrow.
The Knicks fell to 25-15 following this loss and are headed to face another former employer of Mike Brown, the Warriors, on the second night of back-to-back games.
Meanwhile, the Kings now improved to 11-30 and have their first three-game win streak of the season. They will face the Wizards at home on Friday, January 16.
