Coach Mike Brown takes a shot at Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby as the reigning champion Knicks prepare to begin their first title defense in 53 years:
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Knicks → take → years
What will be going through your heart and mind during the ring ceremony and the raising of the banner on Tuesday night?
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What → go → night
Obviously I’m going to be filled with a lot of different emotions.
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I → go → emotions
That’s a special moment.
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That → ’ → ?
I’m going to be a little selfish, but for me individually, not only that, for my family, for the people in the organization, the team, the players, the other coaches, but just as importantly, the city of New York and the fans of the Knicks all around the world … so to see that happening while knowing the history of it, and knowing how hard it is to let alone get there on top of winning it, it’s going to be an awesome feeling with a ton of emotion inside.
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it → go → emotion
We’re all human, the trick is now to really appreciate and enjoy that moment and still try to lock in and get ready for the game and know you got to move forward once it’s over.
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it → ’re → game
What is the challenge of defending a championship?
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challenge → defend → championship
That’s why it hasn’t happened in the NBA in the last eight, nine years.
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it → ’ → years
In all of sports, you don’t hear a ton about back-to-back champions in the modern sports world no matter what sport it is you’re playing.
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you → hear → world
The added quote, unquote pressure that some people may allow to seep in as the year goes on, there could be more jealousies, that the team is not connected, and people forget about sacrificing for the betterment of the team.
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people → add → team
Everybody has naturally been telling you how great you are the whole summer, and so you think you’re great, and you don’t have to go through and/or embrace the process like you did when you got there the first time because you think you know and it’s just going to happen in moments when you think it needs to happen.
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it → tell → moments
There’s a lot that can impact it.
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that → ’ → it
And for me, the biggest thing is trying to make sure our group understands that this is a new season, it’s a new team, and there are new challenges in front of us.
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it → try → us
Therefore, it’s not about the end result, we have to really make sure we focus our energy and effort on the process, by embracing all the details of the process.
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we → ’ → process
And if we do, that’s going to give us our best opportunity to do it again.
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that → do → it
Q: Knowing your guys as you do, how will they approach being The Hunted?
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they → know → guys
That’s another one, everybody likes to play the Knicks anyway, especially in MSG, and now it’s just an added carrot to the whole deal.
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it → ’ → deal
We have a mature group, and that’s one of the main things that gives me — I don’t know if hope is the right word — but gives me hope that we’re going to take this or embrace this process like no other.
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we → have → other
I truly believe that the maturity of the group is going to help when it comes to all of it, not just being The Hunted, but handling being patted on the back all year, and media scrutiny that we’re going to be under and pressures of the other things that we’re going to be under.
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we → believe → that
I think that’s what’s going to help a ton.
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what → think → ?
What did you take from Steve Kerr when you guys were defending your championship with the Warriors?
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guys → take → Warriors
What I mean is you can overdo it as a coach.
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you → mean → coach
Like you can pound, pound, pound, pound, pound, pound, pound all the time because you want guys to continue working hard.
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guys → pound → ?
You want guys to embrace all the little things.
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guys → want → things
You could keep them an extra 15 minutes longer, you could watch an extra five minutes of film, you could do things like that to make sure you don’t get off track with our focus, our energy and our effort in making sure we don’t skip any steps along the way or have any slippage in the process along the way.
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skip → keep → way
So there’s a fine line to where OK, you know what, it might be OK to lose this game during the regular season, because it’s better to lose this game now and learn from it than to press and want to win every time you stepped on the floor.
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you → ’ → floor
And now, that type of pressure that you’re living under all year has catastrophic or bad results come playoff time.
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time → live → results
When they won it the first time (2014-15), that next year they really pressed to have a great regular season and they ended up I think winning 73 games.
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I → win → games
And when they got to the Finals, they basically were gassed out.
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they → get → Finals
Same with the Dallas Mavericks, the following year they were the No. 1 seed, Golden State was the No. 8 seed and they lost in the first round.
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they → lose → round
We pressed so hard to be perfect every single day that by the time the playoffs came, we gassed out.
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we → press → time
Learning from Steve that yes, you got to coach them.
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you → learn → them
Yes you got to hold them accountable, but some things don’t have to be accomplished that day, even if it means taking a loss that day.
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it → got → loss
You just say, “Hey, this is where we are today, we accept it, we know we got to get better, and we got to come back and fight hopefully a little bit harder tomorrow.
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we → say → it
How would you describe your leadership style?
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you → describe → style
His definition of leadership is to give your group hope while always defining reality.
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definition → give → reality
So I’m a guy that likes to try to uplift the group but at the end of the day.
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that → ’m → day
I have to keep it real with everybody.
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I → have → everybody
And I can’t sell any false narratives to any individual and/or the team.
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I → sell → individual
Meaning if we’re doing well, yes, let everybody know, first and foremost.
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everybody → do → ?
…and 62 more, not listed.
The Aporia
