Knicks Notes: Brown, Towns, Robinson, Shamet

Much of the discussion following the Knicks‘ loss to the Hawks in Game 2 revolved around coach Mike Brown‘s decisions regarding lineups and timeout usage. Heading into Game 3 tonight, Brown says he is still open to changing lineups around based on what is needed, Andrew Crane writes for the New York Post.

“Anything’s open to discussion offensively, defensively,” Brown said. “Maybe changing this defensively. Maybe changing that offensively. I’m comfortable with all of our guys playing, no matter who the five is out there.”

The Knicks’ players themselves say they’re fully confident in Brown’s adjustments, writes Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. They say it’s up to them to execute the game plan that their coach lays out for them. Playing with pace and physicality are two points of emphasis among the coaching staff and the players.

“We [have to] get the ball faster, run on makes and misses,” said Jalen 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.”

We have more Knicks notes:

• Karl-Anthony Towns took 12 shots in Game 2, and only two in the fourth quarter as the lead the Knicks had built slipped away. ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill writes that the star big man is clearly not being used effectively enough, as the team has struggled to incorporate him into the offense at multiple points throughout the season. However, that hasn’t impacted Towns’ passion for being a Knick. “He so badly wants things to work here,” Goodwill quotes a source close to Towns as saying. “He wants to be a Knick for life.”
• Mitchell Robinson isn’t angry about the Hawks employing Hack-A-Mitch as a way to force him off the floor. He views it as a sign of respect, Winfield writes. “I mean, yeah, I feel like they want to get me off the court, so I know I’m threatening they a– and it be like that,” Robinson said. Despite being just 2-for-6 from the line through two games, he believes that the work he puts in to practice his free throws will pay off in the end. “Sometimes, it go in; sometimes, it don’t,” he said. “Confidence still high, so still ready to go.” Brown is trying to figure out how to get the defensive-minded center more minutes, but he says it’s been difficult because the two-big lineups with Towns haven’t been effective so far this series, Ian Begley of SNY notes (via Twitter).
• The Knicks have praised Landry Shamet‘s plug-and-play ability all year, but he hit a rough patch towards the end of the season and hasn’t found a way to break out of it so far in the playoffs, Jared Schwartz writes for the New York Post. He shot just 1-for-7 from the field over the first two games of the series, with six of the seven attempts being threes. The Knicks have struggled to find a stable ball-handler off the bench, as both Shamet and Miles McBride are more comfortable off-ball and have difficulty breaking down defenses off the dribble. Those two were supposed to be New York’s top guard depth, but neither has been able to get going, forcing Brown to turn to Jose Alverado instead as a source of energy and ball-handling.