What Mike Brown Must Avoid with Knicks to Slay His Playoff Demons

Knicks head coach Mike Brown reacts during a game. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Though the Knicks' Mike Brown era got off to a great start in the regular season, it's no secret his playoff results will be the true measure of his first campaign at the helm. He's been handed an extremely talented roster that just made the conference finals, and a main reason to oust his predecessor is a belief he can take this team to even greater heights.

However, Brown also has playoff baggage that follows him into his first run with New York. He'll need to learn from those valuable lessons, or risk ending this promising season as a failure.

Mike Brown's recent playoff struggles hang over him as he takes Knicks into playoffs

Brown's last trip to the playoffs was in 2022-23 with the Kings. It bears a striking resemblance to this season, as he was in his first year with Sacramento then, and they also entered the postseason as the 3-seed.

Things started well, as the Kings took an early 2-0 lead over the 6-seed Warriors. However, that's when the magic of Sacramento's surprise season started to fade. Golden State then ripped off three straight wins, showing it had caught on to the Kings' plan of attack and executed the right adjustments to flip this matchup on its head.

Mike Brown reacts to a call | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

The Kings did stop the bleeding to force a Game 7, but they were totally outclassed by the defending champs in the win-or-go-home affair, falling 120-100. Even in that matchup, the Warriors showed an ability to adjust on the fly, using a second-half surge to blow out Brown's squad.

And going back to Brown's last playoff series before that with the Lakers in 2012, that also began with a 2-0 series lead as the 3-seed. Los Angeles even went up 3-1, yet the Brown-coached team ended up being pushed to seven games.

Failing to put away the Nuggets early came back to bite them severely, as they faced the eventual Finals-bound Thunder in the next round. Unsurprisingly, after expending a ton of energy while a terrifying opponent awaited them, Brown and the Lakers fell 4-1 to OKC.

What Mike Brown must do differently with Knicks in 2026 playoffs to avoid repeat of history

There are some clear takeaways for Brown to reflect upon as he goes into this postseason trying to lead a Knicks team with Finals expectations.

Adjust... and adjust again

First of all is being cognizant of adjustments and the chess game that's going to unfold as his opponent also reacts to his moves. Though he did zig during that previous Kings-Warriors series, Golden State's Steve Kerr was also ready to zag when Brown threw out a new look.

It took until Game 6 for Brown to play smaller and use Trey Lyles for more shooting in the frontcourt, but Lyles then was less prevalent in Game 7.

He also pivoted to using Terence Davis as the primary defender for Steph Curry, which worked at first. But the Warriors then took advantage of that matchup in the series finale, as Curry put up 50 with Davis being played over Davion Mitchell.

Luckily, Brown has shown during this season that he's willing to embrace changes and consider different ways to approach things.

Knicks center Mitchell Robinson secures a rebound. | Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

He recently said he's never made more adjustments during a season, which is evident. He's gotten use out of several bench players in 2025-26, made the team more aggressive in three-point shooting, and helped turn things around defensively in the second half of the season.

Being able to react on the fly is going to be key against the Hawks, who will do everything they can to pull off the upset and have a playoff-experience coach in Quin Snyder preparing them.

Even going into this series, New York could immediately put Atlanta on its toes by increasing Mitchell Robinson's role. The Hawks' big men aren't their main strength, and Robinson's ability to change games with his physical presence provides a potential advantage.

Don't let the series drag on

Both of Brown's past two series going to seven games, and with 2-0 leads at that, are a concern. The longer a matchup goes, the more room there is for things to go wrong, or for the effects to be felt even if they advance.

Atlanta is a pesky first round opponent, with a young star in Jalen Johnson (22.5 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 7.9 APG) turning into one of the league's true top scoring and playmaking talents. Breakout guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker is another huge worry as he just starts to realize the top end of his NBA potential. 20.8/3.4/3.7).

Even though NY has the obvious edge, especially with a returning core fresh off of an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, there's a scenario where Atlanta poses a bigger challenge if not treated as such.

This series going from an easily done-in-five-games scenario to one that goes the distance would be downright disastrous considering a date with the Celtics looms in the second round if they advance.

Boston has the "easier" matchup as a reward for finishing No. 2 in the east, and they get a 76ers team that is without Joel Embiid indefinitely after an appendectomy

That gives the Knicks plenty of reason to think Boston is going to await them, which is even more motivation to make as short work of Atlanta as possible. How many games the Hawks series goes is going to reflect directly upon Brown's ability to put his clearly more talented team in a position to do what they should do against a lesser opponent.

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