“Who let the dogs out!?”
The words from the iconic 2000 song by the Baha Men was adopted by Knicks head coach Mike Brown and they captured the team’s championship 2025-26 season.
After another heartbreaking end to yet another season in May 2025, the Knicks surprisingly fired head coach Tom Thibodeu despite a record of 226-174 record during his five years with the team.
But management and the fans recognized something was missing as the Knicks, while greatly improved under Thibs, lacked a dynamic offense that the elite teams of the league were running.
The Knicks then hired Mike Brown, and while his resume was impressive, his name wasn’t the big name most fans desired, and that desire blinded many fans from not only his accolades, but from his coaching talents.
Brown had an overall record of 454-304, led Cleveland to two 60+ win seasons (’08-’09, ’09-’10) and the NBA Finals in the 2006 – 2007 season. He also had a 107-88 record with the Sacramento Kings in 2.5 seasons before he was fired 31 games into last season.
Before Sacramento, he was an assistant with the Warriors for six seasons, where he gained experience in running dynamic offenses.
Fortunately for New York and its fans, the Kings loss was the Knicks gain.
While there wasn’t much fanfare surrounding his arrival, the presence of Jalen Brunson and the fact that the Knicks were coming off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance gave Knicks fans hope that this season would be even more successful.
That meant making the NBA Finals, something that didn’t always appear achievable during the regular season.
There were multiple periods of consecutive losses, an inability to beat elite teams like the Celtics and the Thunder, and ugly losses to the Pistons, who was running away with the East.
But Brown also had the team looking smoother offensively and he was much better at making adjustments than Thibs. The team responded to his style and finished the regular season at 53-29 (+2 wins from the season prior).
Statistically, this season and last where essentially the same. But in watching this year’s team, you could see they worked better together and had a different feel overall.
They put together five winning streaks of 5+ games, won the Commissioner’s Cup and, ironically and beat the Spurs three out of four times (the one loss was by two points), including in the Cup Championship game.
But the playoffs is where Brown shined.
After a wake up call against the Hawks in the first round, the team won 11 straight games, including sweeps of the 76ers and the Cavaliers, both series ending on the opponent’s home court.
Despite that dominant run, the Knicks were the underdogs to Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.
Yet the Knicks, led by Brunson and the coaching talents and adjustments by Brown, played like the favored team and won the first two games before Tr**p’s presence ended the team’s 13 game winning streak.
But two games later, the Knicks were NBA champions.
Brown’s system unleashed the players and let them play the way they did, and they were rewarded with an NBA title because of that; that’s why the Baha Men’s song was so appropriate.
Brown did what the greatest leaders do- lead with the strengths of those who follow, be willing to listen to others and don’t be afraid to adapt.
And while Thibs deserves credit for restoring the franchise, Brown was the man the team needed to evolve it into a championship one.
That’s why Brown, despite not having the Broadway name cache of names like Riley or Jackson, is a great coach.
And in the end, he did what they could not, which is bring an NBA title to New York for the first time in 53 years.
