{"id":92006,"date":"2026-01-07T04:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T04:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/92006\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T04:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T04:58:07","slug":"mike-browns-honeymoon-is-over-with-knicks-mettle-facing-first-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/92006\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown\u2019s honeymoon is over with Knicks\u2019 mettle facing first test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Brown\u2019s honeymoon phase is over. Adversity has struck.<\/p>\n

It was always bound to happen at some point \u2014 teams rarely go entire seasons without some sort of lull or hiccup. And now, Brown is facing the first test of his mettle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know, at the end of the day, anytime you go through a process, you\u2019re gonna have your highs, you\u2019re gonna have your lows, you\u2019re gonna have your setbacks,\u201d Brown said after practice Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s about how do you deal with it? Do you embrace them and attack them head on? Or do you kind of let what\u2019s going on impact how you\u2019re playing? That, for us, is what the next challenge is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewKnicks head coach Mike Brown speaks to the media at the team\u2019s practice facility on Jan. 6, 2026, in Tarrytown, N.Y. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

This Knicks dip came immediately after a big high. <\/p>\n

They had won 11 of 12 games \u2014 including the NBA Cup \u2014 and were clicking on all cylinders. Brown\u2019s vision \u2014 particularly the parts that differed from Tom Thibodeau, like his 3-point happy offense and use of his bench \u2014 looked like they had elevated the Knicks to another level. <\/p>\n

There was strong belief after toppling the Spurs \u2014 who had just beaten the reigning champion Thunder \u2014 that this group had the right leader to be true contenders. The Cup was tangible proof of that.<\/p>\n

Now, they are mired in a four-game losing streak<\/a> \u2014 their first four-game skid since 2022 \u2014 and have gone 5-6 since the Cup. <\/p>\n

They looked out of their depth in a measuring stick matchup with the Pistons, who are first in the East. <\/p>\n

They have dropped to third in the conference, behind the Celtics \u2014 who most viewed as a team in transition entering the year \u2014 and are now closer to the play-in than the top of the East. Their record right now is worse than at this same point last year, under Thibodeau. The defense is a mess. Brown\u2019s free-flowing offense has gone stagnant. The contributions from his bench unit have dried up.<\/p>\n

So, how does Brown get his team out of this rut?<\/p>\n

\u201cSpending time doing what we did today,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWhether you\u2019re watching film, just as importantly going over it on the floor, talking about it and not just preparing for the next game is one of the ways. Starting with me, keeping everybody uplifted and reminding everybody what our standard is for sacrifice and competitive spirit to connectivity, staying connected, to a belief in each other and the process, knowing it\u2019s gonna be a process \u2014 while telling the truth. Holding myself accountable, holding everybody else accountable. So those are things you continue to do. You lean on your standard, you lean on your foundation offensively and defensively to get through times like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewLeft to right: Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride, Kevin McCullar Jr., Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mikal Bridge sit on the bench during the second half of the Knicks\u2019 road loss to the Pistons on Jan. 5, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s affable personality is a stark contrast from Thibodeau. It\u2019s easy to maintain that personality during good times, though. This is really the first time his players have seen him during a challenging period.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been upbeat, he\u2019s been great,\u201d Jalen Brunson said. \u201cThe sky isn\u2019t falling. Yeah, we lost four in a row. Obviously, we don\u2019t want to be in a position like that. We gotta be better, we gotta be positive, we gotta understand that we didn\u2019t start the season great and then we played well after that. It\u2019s just a stint that we just need to get out of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even when they were rolling, Brown constantly expressed the idea that the season wouldn\u2019t be linear and that there would eventually be a bump in the road. This bump, however, is likely bigger than he thought it would be.<\/p>\n

The first boos of the season have cropped up at Madison Square Garden. And Brown isn\u2019t blaming the fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a fan, you have the right to panic,\u201d Brown said. \u201cYou have a right to boo, you have the right to cheer. That\u2019s what this is, this is a sport. Knicks fans are passionate. They\u2019re pretty knowledgeable too, from the little bit of time that I\u2019ve been here. I\u2019m good with whatever they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to us to make sure that we take care of us and we handle the process the right way. That\u2019s what I\u2019m more concerned about than anything else. I love Knicks fans, whether they panic or they don\u2019t, or they boo or they cheer, I\u2019ll still love them.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the moment, that lovefest has cooled. Time for Brown to rekindle the flame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Brown\u2019s honeymoon phase is over. Adversity has struck. It was always bound to happen at some point…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1556,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-92006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-mike-brown","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-knicks","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}