Barbara Barker: Knicks coach Mike Brown uses tough talk through media to criticize officials
Knicks head coach Mike Brown during media day at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Admit it. If you are a Knicks fan, you’ve watched one particular video again and again over the last 24-plus hours
You know the one. It’s where San Antonio’s baby-faced giant, Victor Wembanyama, shoves Jalen Brunson so violently in the head and neck area that the Knicks point guard collapses to the court. The incident, which occurred while the two were jockeying for position at the top of the key in the first quarter, didn’t even draw a foul, though it did set the tone for what would end up being a very physical 115-111 Spurs' win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
Hard fouls weren’t the reason that the Knicks had their 13-game winning streak snapped and saw their lead in the series narrowed to 2-1 entering Wednesday night’s Game 4. Turnovers, bad execution and 10 consecutive missed three-pointers made it clear that the Knicks had not brought their A game to one of the most highly-anticipated contests ever to be played at Madison Square Garden.
Knicks coach Mike Brown was upset enough by what he saw on the court that he opened his postgame news conference with some harsh words for the officials.
“First of all, I want to make sure I get something clear,’’ Brown said. “Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs, they won the game tonight. They came and took the game. But I will say this: I never thought I would be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free-throw attempts in the second half to another team's eight.’’
Brown took a lot of heat on ESPN’s “Inside the NBA” crew for complaining about officials. Yet, his postgame maneuver was a time-honored practice by some of the best coaches in the game. Pat Riley, Phil Jackson and Rick Carlisle (after Game 2 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals) all aggressively used the media to put pressure on both officials and the league office in between playoff games.
Just like Jackson, who used to tell his Shaquille O’Neal that “champions don’t complain” before Jackson went into a newsconference and complained, Brown did the dirty work so his players didn’t have to.
And it just might have worked.
Brunson frustrated at Wemby 😳 pic.twitter.com/0xd2HO78NV
— ESPN (@espn) June 9, 2026
Brunson on Wemby shoving him in Game 3:
— ESPN (@espn) June 9, 2026
"Whatever you saw is what you saw." pic.twitter.com/BA8b1tTk5u
Monty McCutchen, the NBA's head of officiating, said on ESPN on Tuesday that the “foul was missed.” He also said that the league’s reviewing the foul as to whether the play should be deemed a retroactive flagrant foul. As of early Tuesday night, the foul had not been upgraded.
Assessing a flagrant foul on Wembanyama could have a huge impact on the rest of the series, because under NBA rules when a player accumulates four flagrant foul points in a single season, he is automatically suspended for one game.
Wembanyama already has two flagrant foul points, both accumulated on a single play in San Antonio’s second-round series against Minnesota. Wembanyama received a flagrant-2 foul and was ejected after elbowing Naz Reid in the neck in Game 4. If he were to collect a third, he would be on the brink of suspension.
Wemby's elbow on Naz Reid 😳
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 11, 2026
Wembanyama received a flagrant-2 and was ejected from Game 4. pic.twitter.com/udys02LL1E
Brunson, for his part, has stayed clear of commenting on the play though he definitely was agitated enough in the heat of battle to pop back up and jab his finger at the Frenchman. Brunson was asked after the game what had happened between him and Wembanyama and if the physicality of the game had bothered him.
Brunson’s answer: “No, to answer your second question. And whatever you saw is what you saw.”
What others saw, however, was the Knicks star point guard getting manhandled.
“I think that’s not basketball,” backup point guard Jose Alvarado said Tuesday. “That’s something that they gotta look at. But he got away with one. That’ll be the last one.”
Everyone from Stephon Marbury to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has mentioned the non-call on social media. Marbury, a former Knick, posted a video on Instagram stating that international players “play dirty” and encouraged the Knicks to “pop him in the rib cage” or worse in the next game.
After Monday’s game, Wembanyama shrugged off the notion that he is becoming Madison Square Garden’s favorite villain. On Tuesday, Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox came to his defense.
“I don't think it's a villain role. If you get hit, you hit back. That's life,” Fox said. “Every time he rolls, he gets tagged, he gets hit. If he's trying to go set a screen, box out, whatever it may be, he's getting grabbed, he's getting held. It would be crazy for him to think he's going to get open by not hitting somebody. But that's basketball. It's going to be physical.
No one expects anyone to come out here and not have bumps and bruises or injuries.”
Bumps and bruises and injuries? Game 4 ought to be interesting.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
