Knicks coach Mike Brown winds up starting Tom Thibodeau's preferred lineup
Former Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau and current Knicks coach Mike Brown. Credit: Getty Images/Luke Hales; Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Mike Brown had his own issues last season, losing his job in Sacramento as the team he’d helped bring to relevance imploded. But as he arrived in New York, it was hard for him not to be aware of the criticism his predecessor endured for sticking with a five-man unit he believed in for more than five times as many minutes as the next combination was on the floor.
Fans griped. Some media criticized. And finally, in the playoffs, Thibodeau relented and changed things up.
But with the return of OG Anunoby from a hamstring injury on Friday night giving Brown the first chance to put that exact starting lineup on the floor since elevating Josh Hart from the bench, he put that well-acquainted five-man lineup on the floor to face the Utah Jazz at Madison Square Garden.
The results, well, they were hard to argue with on this night. The Knicks took a 10-0 lead before Anunoby went to the bench for a breather, and they extended it to 23-0 after only 6:07. By the end of the first quarter, the Knicks had built a 28-point lead — the largest first-quarter margin for the franchise since tracking data began in the 1996-97 season
Anunoby had been sidelined for three weeks since suffering the injury on Nov. 14. Getting him back on the shorter end of some predictions was good news in itself. But during his absence, Brown made changes, first elevating Landry Shamet into the starting lineup and then Deuce McBride and finally Hart and McBride. But with Anunoby back, Brown went with the familiar, comfortable lineup.
It’s not without good reason. The group of Anunoby and Hart along with Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks to a 31-17 mark in the games they played together last season, the first in New York for Bridges and Towns and the first full season with the Knicks for Anunoby.
Thibodeau put that group on the floor for 940 minutes and 43 seconds in the regular season, compiling a 3.3 net rating. The next-most-used lineup came with McBride in place of Brunson, mainly because of the time that Brunson missed with a sprained ankle. That lineup was on the floor together for just 185 minutes and 36 seconds.
“Yeah, they played well together last year,” Brown said. “So I did look at that. But again, I’m not, whether it’s right or wrong, not a huge proponent of starting the five guys that are going to end the game. To me, who ends the game is a much bigger deal. But at the end of the day, if something is best for our team, then I’m going to try to go that direction.”
The most effective lineup for the Knicks last season — in a small sample size — came with McBride playing alongside Brunson, Hart, Anunoby and Towns, putting together a net rating of 34.4 in just 84 minutes and five seconds.
The Knicks got much better when Anunoby arrived at midseason two years ago this month, and they already have showed marked improvement since Hart moved into the starting lineup this season, taking a 5-1 record into Friday night’s game. In limited minutes — 40 entering Friday night — the combination has put up a net rating of 24.2.
“I look at lineup data,” Brown said. “What I try to do is match certain combinations together with their skill sets based on offensively, defensively whether the guy is stronger on this side of the ball or that side of the ball, then trying to keep a certain amount of size on the floor, trying to keep a guy on the floor that can be pretty good on the ball if needed. Those are kind of the things I look for, mixing and matching these different lineups. But I’m not hesitant to look at any data at all. Sometimes the eye test can be wrong just like the data can be misleading.”
So it’s not an odd decision to put this experienced and effective group together. And Brown likely won’t have to hear the critiques that Thibodeau did because the deeper bench this season gives him the opportunity to use this grouping less in total and experiment with different lineups throughout the game before ending with what he sees as the best grouping.
“It’s a deep team and it’s a diverse team,” Brown said. “We mix and match in a lot of different ways. Those are probably the two biggest things. The reality of it is everybody works extremely hard and is trying to stay ready to play, no matter if your number is called or not.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
