Nigeria’s men’s basketball senior national team, D’Tigers’ former coach, Mike Brown is showering praise on his players and backroom crew at New York Knicks of USA for helping him pull off a historic feat in the country’s high-profile league.
READ ALSO: AFN’s Technical Committee Releases Guidelines For Athletes’ Registration Ahead Of National Trials
Sports247 reports that Brown was reeling lyrical about the roles played by his players and assistant coaches after The Knicks set up a tantalizing face-off with San Antonio Spurs in this year’s National Basketball Association (NBA) finals.
Brown is making the best of his maiden post-season voyage as head coach of the New York-based side and, after a 130-93 Game 4 victory on Monday, he is now the first Knicks’ head coach since Jeff Van Gundy in 1999 to reach the NBA Finals.
It’s been a remarkable return to head coaching for Brown, who hadn’t made the championship round since 2007 – the longest gap for any coach in NBA history – and was sacked in his third year at Sacramento Kings during the 2024-25 season.
All that has changed, with 11 consecutive wins, two series sweeps, mauling opponents by nearly 22 points per 100 non-garbage-time possessions, a margin twice as large as either Western Conference finalist and The Knicks were ready.
Brown was also ready for another chance at the top job, for the pressure that came with gunning for the NBA Finals, meeting all expectations, and for the challenge of consummating all that he has learnt in three decades on various benches.
The Knicks’ historic surge into the finals, after more than a century out, came after yet another huge win against Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the 2026 Eastern Conference play-offs and Brown praised his players for remaining desperate.
“They’ve been fantastic. We’ve thrown a lot of adjustments, offensively and defensively, at them throughout the course of these playoffs. To still see them locked in again, that just speaks volumes of my coaching staff.
“But more so about these players. They want to go try to get a ring. If an opportunity came up, great; if it didn’t, you know, shoot, I felt lucky, blessed, fortunate. I felt that at some point, I’d get another opportunity.
“Whether it was a head coach or an assistant coaching position. So, I just kind of rolled with it. Didn’t think much about it,” Brown asserted, while reflecting on his rough and tough route to the point where he now is standing tall.
Sports247 reports that Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals comes up this Wednesday between Western Conference champions, San Antonio Spurs and Eastern Conference winners, New York Knicks.
It’s the first postseason meeting between Spurs and Knicks since the 1999 NBA Finals, which the heavily favoured team from San Antonio took in five games behind a dominant MVP performance from Tim Duncan.
*2026 NBA Finals Schedule:
Game 1: Wednesday at San Antonio
Game 2: Friday at San Antonio
Game 3: Monday, June 8, at New York
Game 4: Wednesday, June 10, at New York
*Game 5: Saturday, June 13, at San Antonio
*Game 6: Tuesday, June 16, at New York
*Game 7: Friday, June 19, at San Antonio
