3 Knicks Rotation Tweaks to Expect in Game 5 With Title on the Line

If the Knicks want to close out the Spurs, Mike Brown will have to lean on lessons learned some creativity.

Jun 10, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown coaches against the San Antonio Spurs during the second quarter of game four of the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The New York Knicks are one win away from their first NBA championship in 53 years after completing the biggest comeback in Finals history in Game 4.

That 29-point comeback saw Knicks head coach Mike Brown pull a lot of different levers to find something that worked, whether it was playing Jose Alvarado down the stretch, going 12 deep to mitigate foul trouble, or playing Jalen Brunson the entire second half.

Ultimately, Brown was successful in pressing the right buttons to help the Knicks pull off the historic comeback.

Now the series shifts to San Antonio for Game 5 where the Spurs will be fighting to keep their season alive. Closing out the Spurs on their home floor will not be an easy task, and Brown will need to rely on some lessons learned from Game 4, plus come up with some tweaks, to help the Knicks bring home the title.

Here are some guesses at what changes Brown might make for Game 5 of the Finals.

More Alvarado next to Brunson

After the Knicks’ Game 3 loss to the Spurs, some fans called for Brown to play Alvarado or Tyler Kolek with Brunson to put more ball-handling on the floor. With an extra point guard on the court, the Knicks could lessen the load on Brunson and give him an easy, capable release valve when the Spurs’ defense clamps down on him.

Brown did just that in Game 4, and Alvarado delivered a folk-hero inspired performance, scoring eight points in the fourth quarter, including two huge baskets in the final five minutes to help close out the game.

Expect Brown to lean on this more in Game 4.

Now, it still comes with risks. Brunson and Alvarado make for a very small back-court that San Antonio could pick on with a clearer-headed, more functional offense than we saw late in the fourth quarter. Alvarado is also not a huge threat from deep (though he’s shot well there this postseason), so San Antonio might dare him to shoot and live with the results.

Brown probably won’t play these two together for huge minutes unless the Knicks are cruising, but it’s certainly a look to expect to see again for Game 5.

More bench early in the game

The Knicks probably can’t rely on winning another game with Brunson and OG Anunoby combining for 69 points on 22-of-40 shooting while getting 26 combined points from Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart.

We know the latter three are going to play big minutes. But Brown needs more from the bench.

Games 3 and 4 were disappointing stints from the Knicks’ bench: Landry Shamet came back to earth, Jordan Clarkson hit some big shots but also had costly turnovers, Miles McBride struggled badly, and Mitchell Robinson has mostly been unproductive

But after a game in which Brunson and Anunoby played over 40 minutes each, Brown is going to need his bench to eat some minutes. This could result in making early substitutions to try to mix them in early in the action, alongside more of the starters, perhaps in hopes that some of them catch a rhythm. Shamet and McBride, in particular, finding their stroke from three would be a huge boost to the Knicks offense.

We might also see these subs early so that, if needed, Brown can play his starters big minutes down the stretch again.

More switching on defense

The Knicks fell into early holes in Games 3 and 4 in part from lackadaisical perimeter and transition defense. Too often the Knicks failed to match up with the right players in transition or failed to contain them on dribble drives. This put the Knicks in scramble mode, and San Antonio was feasting on easy, open looks from downtown or dribble drives as a direct result.

It’s worth wondering if the Knicks might deploy a bit more switching on defense now on Saturday to help mitigate this.

The Knicks haven’t done a lot of switching this year, and it might seem counterintuitive to start this late in the season, particularly against a giant walking mismatch in Victor Wembanyama.

However, it may also help the Knicks stifle the Spurs’ offense a bit. Beyond Wembanyama, the Spurs don’t contain any physically imposing players who pose big matchup problems for the Knicks guards and wings. In the starting lineup, the Knicks should be able to switch 1-4 pretty easily, keeping airtight perimeter defense that could make the Spurs go East and West with the ball, rather than North and South.

This strategy could even invite some stagnation from the Spurs and tempt them into bad shots. Let’s say the Spurs ran a pick-and-roll with De’Aaron Fox and Wembanyama. Anunoby switches onto Wemby and Towns switches onto Fox. Fox is having an okay series, but it’s probably a win for the Knicks defense if the Spurs offense devolves into Fox trying to beat Towns off the dribble. 

If the Spurs ran a pick-and-roll with Stephon Castle and Wemby, then Hart (who has mostly guarded Castle) switches onto Wemby. Wemby can easily shoot over Hart, but again, Wemby shooting a jumper over Hart is probably a win. Can Wemby take him off the dribble? Can he back Hart down successfully to get a closer look? It’s unclear, but it could make the Spurs become slower and more stagnant.

On the other hand, the Knicks may not want to invite possible foul trouble, with Towns trying to stay in front of guards or smaller players trying to battle Wemby, especially with the Knicks’ bench struggling.

Ultimately, the Knicks may not even try this. But if Brown wants to try getting creative, throwing some switching in without warning could throw the Spurs off-kilter.