Mike Brown's ‘Stolen' Technique Has Knicks Close to NBA Finals

In his first season as the head coach of the New York Knicks, Mike Brown has the team poised for its first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.

A stolen head coaching technique from longtime San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr might be to blame. After the Knicks 121-108 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night, Brown revealed what he learned from the best: ensure bench players see quality minutes during the regular season.

“They were guys that went deep into their bench,” Brown said of Kerr and Popovich. “They would say, ‘It’s not about now; it’s about the postseason.’ You keep guys engaged by you doing that.”

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“That’s something I stole from them. There were a few things I came up with on my own. I’ve seen it work in the past, and that’s kind of what I wanted to do here,” he added.

Josh Hart, who averaged a league-leading 37.6 minutes per game last season, was fifth among the Knicks starters this season at 30.2 minutes.

Brown isn’t a complete stranger to the playoffs or the NBA Finals, but he hasn’t led a team deep into the playoffs since the Los Angeles Lakers reached the Western Conference semifinals in 2012. Now he has a chance to lead the Knicks to the NBA Finals for the first time in nearly 30 years.

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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 5:51 PM.