ATLANTA — The Knicks are confident in head coach Mike Brown’s ability to make adjustments in the playoffs.
Adjustments are the name of the game in a best-of-seven series against the same opponent, and the Knicks had several to make on both ends of the floor following their Game 2 loss to the Hawks on Monday.
Team captain Jalen Brunson said it falls on the players to adhere to the game plan the coaching staff, beginning with Brown, lays out for the team.
“I think he’s been great in making sure we’re in the right positions to be successful,” Brunson said after morning shootaround at State Farm Arena on Thursday. “It’s just on us to execute them.”
Mitchell Robinson, who spoke after Brunson on Thursday, oozed with confidence in Brown’s ability to tinker with the game plan to better prepare for the Hawks, who frequently sought Brunson in isolation in crunch time and benefitted from the Knicks’ lack of offensive flow in Game 2.
“[Our coaching staff] gets to every detail of the game, literally everything,” Robinson said. “They break it down, see what needs to be changed, what doesn’t, what we need, you know: bring more intensity out of us and stuff like that.
“I mean it’s been great learning from him. It’s been amazing.”
Brown addressed the concept of making in-series playoff adjustments after practice at the team’s Tarrytown training facility on Wednesday.
“These things are seven-game series for a reason. Everyone would like the one-and-done, especially lower-seed teams,” he said. “They’d welcome that because anything can happen in one game.”
Chief among those adjustments — at least on the offensive end — will be playing with more pace, something the Knicks have struggled with this season.
“We [have to] get the ball faster, run on makes and misses,” said Brunson. “Just be who we are and don’t let things are not that important in this moment — it shouldn’t mean we’re not doing the things that we’re supposed to be doing.”
Robinson, the team’s defensive anchor, says it starts with ratcheting up the level of physicality from Game 2, which he said wasn’t up to par based on his own stat line of recording just seven rebounds.
“Hell no, we weren’t physical at all,” he said. “So physicality, make everything get physical. You know, just play ball and stay locked in and just fight.”
Brunson replied, “yes,” when a reporter asked him if the Knicks’ offense could benefit from being more aggressive setting screens and establishing post position. He also used the word “physical” when describing how he and co-star Karl-Anthony Towns can find more of a rhythm on the floor together.
“[We have to] be aggressive, be physical,” he said. “Impose our will on the game and keep trusting each other.”
The Knicks’ captain also said he has to continue dissecting the defense the Hawks are presenting with nagging defenders Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker sharing the on-ball duties.
“They both are great defenders. So you have to be smart. You have to be kind of tactical in what you do and just being able to not really focus on what they’re doing but like focus on making sure I’m doing the things I need to do to make sure that I’m comfortable and shooting the shots that I want to shoot and, and be in the positions that I want to be in,” he said. “But I mean, you got to give them credit. They make things very difficult.”
Brunson shot 9-of-22 from the field in the Knicks’ Game 1 victory and 10-of-26 from the field in the Game 2 loss.