Mike Brown has spent a coaching lifetime tied to the San Antonio Spurs. Now, with the New York Knicks back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, he has to beat them — and he is not pretending the feelings are complicated.
Speaking to reporters after a Knicks practice, Brown framed the task ahead with respect and a clear plan. "It's going to be tough. They're well coached. They have a tremendous player in Wemby," he said of Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. "They're quote-unquote young to a certain degree, but they have some really good veterans on the team that kind of uplift the young guys and give the young guys a lot of guidance. So they've got a nice mix of players on their team."
The Knicks won all of their head-to-head meetings with San Antonio this season yet still arrive as underdogs, a dynamic Brown answered with a focus on tone-setting. "They're a team that comes out really aggressive and hits first. Their crowd is into it and we just have to make sure we try to match or exceed their physicality to start the ball game while leaning on our standards," he said.
"The group has been resilient the whole year," Brown added. "We've got to keep sacrificing. We've got to keep playing with a competitive edge. We've got to stay connected. We've got to keep believing in each other and what we're trying to do out on the floor."
The Spurs ties run deep for Brown, who worked in San Antonio and won a championship there alongside Gregg Popovich. Asked about facing the organization without Popovich on the opposing bench, Brown spoke of a shadow that has not faded. "He still has a huge presence, he'll always have a presence," Brown said. "The job that he's done, not only on the court with that team or that organization, but off the court too, is going to be imprinted as long as the game of basketball exists."
He also coached De'Aaron Fox, now a Spurs veteran, earlier in Fox's career. But Brown waved off any suggestion the personal connections would soften him. "No, because they definitely want to beat me and I want to kick their ass," he said. "So you gotta love 'em and you can always love 'em before and after."
On the floor, Brown's defensive plan leans heavily on the versatility of OG Anunoby, who is expected to draw assignments ranging from Spurs guards to Wembanyama himself. "OG's extremely versatile," Brown said. "He's long enough, athletic enough, strong enough to guard quick smaller guys. He's obviously got the size and athleticism to guard big wings. And then he's got the strength and the length and the intelligence to guard bigger guys. So having a guy like that gives us a ton of versatility to be able to move him around."
Brown made no secret of his belief that Anunoby was snubbed by All-Defensive voters. "He should have been first team on defense because of his versatility, and it's shown throughout the course of the most important time during the year, which is the playoffs," he said. "And we'll continue to show going into the finals."
Offensively, Brown expects the Spurs to leave Josh Hart to help on bigger threats — and he wants Hart ready to make them pay. Recalling how Hart punished a similar approach from Cleveland, Brown said his message has not changed. "Josh works very, very hard on his shooting and playmaking because he knows that he's discarded by centers," he said. "My message to Josh is let it fly, let it fly, let it fly, because we believe in it."
Game 1 of the Finals tips Wednesday in San Antonio, where Brown's old organization will try to deny him a championship — and where his family, he joked, still lives. The respect is genuine. So, he made clear, is the intent to win.
