Mike Brown, meet Madison Sq. Backyard. Madison Sq. Backyard, meet Mike Brown.
After opening the preseason with two wins over the Philadelphia 76ers in Abu Dhabi, the brand new Knicks head coach makes his long-awaited Backyard debut on Thursday night time — stepping onto the enduring hardwood for the primary time since taking on in New York. For Brown, the second is private.
His household — everybody however his sons — will likely be in attendance. And whereas it’s solely a preseason sport, Brown is aware of precisely what this enviornment represents.
“Yeah, I’m excited. I’m excited about my family coming to the game. I got my sister-in-law, too, in town,” Brown stated after apply Wednesday on the Knicks’ Tarrytown facility. “I’m excited for the guys to play at MSG.”
Brown is not any stranger to the Backyard. As a head coach, he’s 6-7 all-time within the constructing: 5-3 with LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers, 0-2 with the Sacramento Kings, 0-1 throughout his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, and 1-1 in a separate return to Cleveland. He additionally appeared in 10 video games at MSG as a participant, going 2-8 whereas averaging three factors and three rebounds — although he did shoot 50% from the ground underneath the Backyard lights.
“MSG is such an iconic venue,” Brown stated. “And whether it’s a preseason game or regular-season game, to be able to know that that’s your home court every night and to do it for the first time, it gives you goosebumps.”
Goosebumps are only the start.
Brown arrives in New York with a championship pedigree — and sky-high expectations. He’s a two-time NBA Coach of the Yr with expertise as an assistant on Steve Kerr’s Golden State Warriors employees throughout three of the franchise’s current title runs. He replaces Tom Thibodeau, who led the Knicks to back-to-back 50-win seasons and their first Japanese Convention Finals look in a quarter-century.
Now, it’s Brown’s flip to boost the ceiling. His system — constructed on tempo, spacing and unselfish ball motion — is anticipated to unlock a better stage from a Knicks core already brimming with expertise.
“These guys have been working hard, and so to be able to go out there and showcase their talents and showcase their work, and, now everything’s not gonna be pretty,” Brown stated. “Minnesota’s a superb workforce, and whenever you face one other workforce or a unique coloured jersey, typically you’re taking a step again a little bit bit, and I count on that.
“But that’s what the preseason’s about. It’s learning, growing one step at a time, but for our guys to be able to have a chance to go out there and showcase what they’ve been working on behind closed doors is an exciting thing for me looking at them — and it should be for them knowing that the fans and their families are gonna be in the stands and be able to see them for the first time at MSG.”
Brown enters his first season in New York with a 454–304 regular-season file throughout 11 years as an NBA head coach. He’s 50-40 within the playoffs, together with a visit to the 2007 NBA Finals with LeBron in Cleveland. Most just lately, Brown helped snap the Kings’ 16-year playoff drought, main Sacramento to a 107–88 file earlier than administration dismissed him final season following a 13–18 begin.
