Knicks HC Praises Team’s Emotions After Lopsided Foul Night

Leave the referees alone.

A simple, but strong message echoed by New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown that will go a long way throughout this season for his ball club. In the aftermath, of the 123-114 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers who were coming in winners of five straight games. Brown not only applauded the win, but more importantly commended the ability of his team to keep their composure throughout the game.

"When you start barking at the officials, first of all it takes energy away from what you're trying to do and focus, too. Now your focus is on the officials instead of going to win the game," he said. "I applaud all of our guys and I've been talking to our veterans, Jalen [Brunson], Josh [Hart], Big KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns]: 'hey, you guys, it starts with you guys. You guys gotta leave the officials alone so everybody else falls in line.' And I thought our guys were fantastic tonight with it."

"'Starts w you guys. You guys gotta leave the refs alone'"

– Mike Brown's message to "our vets" Brunson, Hart, KAT

Brown: "Barking at refs takes away focus…I applaud all our guys…fantastic tonight"

Blazers 25 FTs on 18 Knick fouls
Knicks 8 FTs on 8 Blazer fouls
Knicks W pic.twitter.com/sSsi5oEPJ0
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) January 12, 2026

The game ended with the Knicks having 18 fouls committed to the Blazers' 8 fouls committed. That still represents a significant gap, but the outcome worked in the Knicks favor after getting Brown's advice. This may have not seem like a big deal to outsiders, but for the fiery Brown (who is no stranger to getting tossed out of games) this is in the step towards the right direction.

Referees have a significant amount of power

Officiating has been questioned more and more throughout the league. Celtics forward Jaylen Brown who received a $35,000 fine for his comments on the officiating in their 100-95 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Last week, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was ejected in their 101-100 loss to the LA Clippers for criticizing officials. After the game, officials recognized that the call was bad, but the Warriors still had to play through the loss without their head coach.

Referees are humans, and the number of ejections and technicals they give out in today's game is an extension of the power they use throughout a game. Brown has seemed to recognize that, and that will go a long way for the Knicks in their favor.

Character building

Basketball is often described as an “emotional game”. Each night, teams are chasing one goal: to walk out with a victory. It can be easy for a team to lose focus because their attention on the referees overshadows their ability to focus on the game itself.

However, if Brown’s message to Brunson, Towns and Hart sticks, it should only blossom through to the rest of the team. From there, the discipline is only going to build a level of character that many teams strive for.

There are referees that do make mistakes, but those referees still hold power during the game, even when they've made an error many would consider to be egregious. Refs are likely able to take note of which players are understanding of human error, and which become preoccupied with bad calls. Building a “next play” mentality, however the game is going, is clearly important to Brown and should make his Knicks even better.

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