Mike Browns latest Knicks lineup decision was familiar one and it comes with a challenge

Just like that, the Knicks are right back to the same starting lineup as last year.OG Anunoby’s return after missing nine games due to a hamstring strain left coach Mike Brown with an important decision — either Josh Hart or Miles McBride had to move to the bench.Both had been starting with both Anunoby and Landry Shamet (shoulder sprain) out and were playing well with bigger workloads.

During Friday’s rout of the Jazz, it was Hart who stayed in the starting lineup and Brown indicated it would be that way going forward.Before the year, Brown made it clear that he actually wanted both to come off the bench and envisioned Mitchell Robinson starting at center.But that changed, with Brown now believing Robinson is better served coming off the bench.

And Karl-Anthony Towns is more effective playing center than power forward, where he plays when Robinson is in at center.That meant Hart entered the starting lineup and began logging heavy minutes, as he had previously become accustomed to throughout his Knicks tenure.Flipping Hart and Robinson actually wasn’t Brown’s own idea — it was one he was talked into.“I rely on my staff,” Brown said.

“I had reasons why I was starting it the other way, but my staff, I think all of them, were like, ‘Hey, these are the reasons why it would be better.’ The reality of it is I just listened to my staff.I said ‘OK, if I’m the only one thinking that the other way may be better at that time, then maybe I’m wrong.’ I’ve been wrong before, and I will be wrong again in the future.

That’s what I love about my staff, I have guys that aren’t afraid, on staff, to tell me what they think.At the end of the day, it’s up to me to make the decision, I’m not gonna always listen to them.

But if my whole staff is telling me something, then I better open my eyes and my ears and figure out what they’re really trying to say and maybe follow their lead instead of them following my lead all the time.”Hart struggle...