Knicks’ Mike Brown Focused On Fixing First-Quarter Woes

Coach Mike Brown isn’t big on letting problems linger.

If he sees something he doesn’t like, he tends to address it immediately. Sometimes very immediately.

That’s why the New York Knicks coach has been burning timeouts early in games lately.

In four of the last five contests, Brown called a timeout within the first six minutes. Twice, he did it in the opening two minutes — including Wednesday’s win over the Utah Jazz.

Why so quick?

“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, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “I’m going to do whatever I can to not let that happen.”

The Knicks have struggled early lately. Over their last 10 games, they’ve been outscored by about three points in first quarters — among the worst marks in the NBA during that span.

Brown says the issues are simple.

Turnovers. Slow closeouts. Too many early threes by opponents.

“We’re not giving ourselves a chance,” he said.

Meanwhile, Josh Hart (knee soreness) and Karl-Anthony Towns (knee soreness) are questionable for Friday’s game against the Indiana Pacers.

Indiana owns the worst record in the East. But the Knicks know better than to assume anything comes easy.