Rick Brunson Admits Mike Brown Needs More Credit for Knicks’ Success

The New York Knicks are going into 2026-2027 as one of the teams projected to contend for an NBA championship. New York won the championship in June, and a lot of the credit went to Finals MVP Jalen Brunson as well as various players on the roster. 

During the Knicks' run to the Finals, they dominated for much of the postseason. They went on a 13-game winning streak at one point and cruised through the second round of the playoffs and the Eastern Conference Finals. 

Knicks' assistant coach and father of Jalen Brunson, Rick Brunson, recently spoke about the job head coach Mike Brown did with this team during that time, and he believes he deserves more credit. 

Brunson told a story about how he met with each starter privately and asked them to air out their grievances because the team was struggling in the latter portion of the regular season. He then met with all the starters at once and told them about what was said. 

"And they actually talked to each other and understood each other. And I swear that was the moment where we took off," Brunson said. 

New York did fall to a 2-1 deficit in the first round of the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, but since Game 4, they had looked like a much different team. 

Since that point, the Knicks had been a team that liked to get out in transition and play at a fast pace. They turned defense into offense, and they were a tough team to stop once they got into a rhythm. 

Shooting also became a strength for the Knicks during this time. Multiple players on the roster, from starters to reserves, were effective from beyond the three-point line, making them efficient when they got out on runs. 

In Game 6 against the Hawks, they closed the series out and won by 51 points. The team took a big lead early, and they didn't look back. They had other closeout games in the postseason where they looked like they could not be stopped on offense. 

Against the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round, the Knicks won Game 4, 144-114, and it was another game where they looked unstoppable from the opening tip. Against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4, they won 130-93. 

Rick Brunson believes Mike Brown had a lot to do with the Knicks' intensity during the playoffs, and it was his ability to make this team communicate on a more personal level that allowed them to flip that switch, which eventually led to an NBA title.