Mike Browns lineup experiments are paying dividends for Knicks

At this stage in the season, winning isn’t enough for the Knicks. The champions care more about how they win. “Obviously, we want to play well, we want to win, but we also want to continue to grow as a team and try not to plateau,” Jalen Brunson said after practice Monday.“I think the way we do that is to continue to try to see how we can win games differently.” That sentiment trickles down from head coach Mike Brown.

Constant experimentation is a core staple to his philosophy.It feels like there’s a surprise in the box score every game. His players believe that brings the best out of them. “It’s kind of a freeing thing, playing that way, knowing that you don’t have to really be looking over your shoulder or thinking that one thing is gonna ruin whatever,” Landry Shamet said Monday.

“And I think that he knows that we have that makeup as a group, too, that we’re all on the same page in wanting the best for each other — the next man up kind of mentality.It’s from top to bottom, and it’s a good environment to have.” Brown used an 11-man rotation for Saturday’s 109-97 win in Cleveland.

That wasn’t the result of garbage-time minutes, as all 11 saw the court in the first half.It was clear Brown wanted to get guys involved who are usually out of the rotation, such as Mohamed Diawara and Dalton Knecht. It represents the biggest difference between Brown and predecessor Tom Thibodeau, who established a rotation and stuck strictly to it unless forced to change.

Thibodeau prioritized maximizing his chances of winning every single night.Brown looks at the regular season more like a canvas to try new lineups, rotations and systems so that, by the end of the year, he has more available in his toolkit. That process might be ugly at times, but it’s designed to deliver long-term results. Brown credits it as a big reason for their championship last season.

The likes of Shamet and Jordan Clarkson spent time in and out of the rotation ...