During his six seasons as a Golden State Warriors assistant, Mike Brown experienced the nightly masterclass that is Stephen Curry’s 3-point shooting.
He watched as Curry demonstrated the value of coming off of screens and getting open for catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, despite being the Warriors’ primary point guard.
“I always felt if I ever had a team, I don’t care what my point guard’s like,” Brown recalled Wednesday. “I’m gonna try to get him off the ball.”
That vision is coming to fruition in Brown’s first season as head coach of the Knicks.
In Brown’s system, Jalen Brunson has added an element to his offensive arsenal with an uptick in catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.
Before Wednesday’s game against the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden, Brown confirmed that he’s tried to implement some of Curry’s game into Brunson’s.
“Nobody can be like Steph. He’s an amazing player,” said Brown, who worked for the Warriors from 2016-22.
“What makes him so unique is his ability to play on the ball and off the ball, so in a seven-game playoff series, teams have a hard time adjusting to him, because it’s hard to take away everything.”
Entering Wednesday, Brunson was making 1.7 catch-and-shoot 3-pointers on 3.2 attempts per game, good for 53.1%.
Last season under Tom Thibodeau, Brunson made 0.8 catch-and-shoot 3-pointers on 1.9 attempts per game, or 42.1%.
In his previous three years with the Knicks, Brunson never made more than 1.1 catch-and-shoot 3-pointers or attempted more than 2.5 per game.
“In the offseason, that’s what I worked on,” Brunson said on Tuesday night. “I worked on relocating, and the talk was playing off-ball, so why don’t I just work on that? That was a lot of the stuff I did this summer. The ball is going in when I do it.”
Brunson made six 3-pointers in Tuesday’s 133-120 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, and three of them came via catch and shoot.
The difference is evident to Magic head coach Jamahl Mosely, who was an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks during Brunson’s first three seasons there from 2018-21.
“He’s moving differently without the basketball,” Mosely said. “They run a lot of different actions, the way he’s coming off the handoffs on the backside versus him bringing the ball up the court the entire time. Just his ability to be off the ball, then playing off of closeouts, which is tough for him, because now he has some rest as he gets the ball back in his hands, so he’s able to attack you at full speed.”
During Brown’s six years with Golden State, Curry made at least 2.0 catch-and-shoot 3-pointers per game in all but one season.
When Brown left in 2022 to become the Sacramento Kings’ head coach, he tried to implement a similar game plan for point guard De’Aaron Fox.
“If the defense wants to play you this way, go in the corner,” Brown said. “The ball will find you if we’re moving and spacing the right way. That’s what I tried to do with Fox, even though he’s a pick-and-roll-dominant guy, ball in his hands. And that’s what I’m trying to do with Jalen.”
FULL STRENGTH
The Knicks were at full strength for Wednesday’s Eastern Conference clash with the Magic, as center Mitchell Robinson returned to the lineup after sitting out of Tuesday’s win for injury management for his surgically repaired left ankle.
The Magic, meanwhile, got back guard Jalen Suggs, who sat out on Monday for injury management for the left knee that he underwent surgery on in March.
Franz Wagner was also active for Orlando, albeit in a face mask, after suffering a broken nose in Monday’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
