Mike Brown isn’t one to let things get out of hand without an intervention.
The coach has shown he’s willing to burn quick timeouts to address problems he sees almost immediately on the court. In four of the last five games, for instance, he called a timeout within the first six minutes.
Twice he called timeouts in the opening two minutes of the last five games, including Wednesday’s win over the Jazz.
“I’ve just seen too many times when I don’t, where it seems like it gets worse and the next thing you know, we’re down 16-4,” Brown said. “I’m going to do whatever I can to not let that happen. The tough part about it is if I do that, I’m down timeouts. So I don’t like doing it. But if I have to, I will try to wake them up.”
The Knicks have had problems lately at the start of games. Over the last 10, they were outscored by an average of 3.2 points — the fourth worst in the NBA during that stretch and ahead of only tankers Brooklyn, Dallas and Washington.
“We’re turning it over to start. And our opponents are not feeling us,” Brown said. “And if they do feel us, it’s because we’re reaching and sending them to the free-throw line. We have to take away the 3 to start the game. The last three games, teams are bang, bang, bang. Hit two or three 3s like the first 1 ½ minutes. We’re not getting to shooters and they’re not feeling us on our closeouts. If we do that and we’re taking care of the ball so we’re not fueling their transition, we should start games better. But we’re not giving ourselves a chance and we’re letting our opponents feel good about the way the game is starting. It’s been addressed. It will continue to be addressed and we will continue to keep scrambling until we can find a way to slow that area down.”
Josh Hart (knee soreness) and Karl-Anthony Towns (bilateral knee soreness) are both listed as questionable for Friday night’s game against the Pacers.
Hart missed Wednesday’s win over the Jazz with the same ailment. Towns appeared to tweak his knee in Monday’s loss to the Clippers but played through it.
The Pacers own the worst record in the East and are on a 10-game losing streak. But they’ve tried harder this season against Knicks, including an overtime win at MSG last month.