The New York Knicks may have fallen to the OKC Thunder for the second time this month on Sunday, but the biggest let-down on the night wasn't the 111-100 final score on the board.
Instead, in the eyes of coach Mike Brown, that label belongs to the club's constant jawing with the officiating team.
During his post-game media session, the headman revealed that, above all else, "what I was most disappointed in was the amount of energy that we expended on the officials."
It goes without saying that the Knicks were incredibly vocal about their disdain for how the game was called. With guys like Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, two of the more outspoken critics on this team, leading the charge, this has unfortunately been an ongoing trend of theirs all season long.
However, with this particular instance, Brown's remarks come across as a bit hypocritical, as he has easily been the most animated critic of all in both of New York's bouts against Oklahoma City this season.
Mike Brown must be the change he wishes to see in Knicks
Here in 2025-26, a popular trend running rampant across the league involves opposing teams squaring off against Oklahoma City to speak out about what they perceive as unwarranted calls in favor of the reigning champs, often directed at superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
From Boston star Jaylen Brown being caught yelling "That's not basketball!" following a drawn whistle for SGA to Golden State coach Steve Kerr absolutely flaming the referees after their early-March matchup against OKC, examples of such happenings are truly a dime a dozen.
Knicks coach Mike Brown is the latest to join the movement, even receiving a technical for his approach to combating calls.
Of course, as we all know, he was also quite quick to call out both Gilgeous-Alexander and officials after their last face-off a few weeks back for how the referees get played into believing "that he's getting hit."
Yes, it's easy to see why both Brown and his players were irate with how fouls were divvied up in both instances, especially their latest contest, where the Thunder hoisted a whopping 38 shots from the charity stripe while New York took just 17.
On top of this, the coach himself has already acknowledged that his reaction was predominantly a sign of solidarity with his players, reinforcing that he has their back regardless of the situation.
However, perhaps performing this kind of admirable act in response to what was clearly a hard foul by Hart may not have been the best time to do so.
Calling a spade a spade is one thing -- In this instance, Brown essentially called a club a spade.
Fortunately, the two-time Coach of the Year did make it a point to say that "I'm trying to be better" at picking his battles when it comes to arguing with officials, even admitting that "it's not how you're going to win a ball game."
While these soundbites are all well and good, until he takes control of this locker room and leads by example on the matter, Knicks fans should expect the usual suspects to continue wasting energy on the wrong things, like pleading with officials, at the expense of them getting right back in the game.