The New York Knicks have a chance to win a championship this year, but things need to break their way. When talking about what it will take for the Knicks to reach those heights, he emphasized perseverance, but didn’t mention the biggest specific factor: defense.
“I truly believe it [that we are championship team],” Brown said via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “Now, having said that, there are things that have to go right. You got to be playing your best basketball. You have to be connected. The things that I talk about. You got to sacrifice. If you got guys on your team that aren’t sacrificing, you could be in trouble. Because it’ll mess with your connectivity. Which is huge. You got to have a competitive spirit. You got to want to compete every night. And you got to believe. You got to keep believing. Even when things are going bad. Even when you go through stretches of 2-7 or 2-9. You got to believe not just in the process — because it is a process — but you got to believe in each other. And then at the end of the day, in anything you do, starting with me, everybody has to be held accountable.”
All of the factors Brown mentioned are important, but none as important as defense.
Mike Brown doesn't mention defense, but that's key to Knicks title chase
Obviously, Brown wasn’t going to come right out and say, ‘Our guys need to be better on the defensive end, and consistently.’ But still, that’s going to be the make-or-break factor.
Sacrifice? Important. Connectivity? Important. Belief? Important. Every single thing Brown mentioned during his statement is true. They’re all important.
But if the Knicks want to make it out of the East and win a title this year, they need their top guys to stay locked in on the defensive side of the ball.
The brutal reality of New York’s situation this year is that they have two players who aren’t great on defense: Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. But both of those guys will almost always be on the floor.
And if Brunson and Towns are on the floor together, the opposing team is almost certainly going to put them in a pick-and-roll (or try to attack them in some way).
So, while Brown’s spiel is 100% accurate, it misses the main point: If the Knicks want to win a championship this season, they’re going to have to stay consistent on the defensive end. And that starters from the top down.