While the Knicks have lost three of their first five games of their title-defending 2026-27 campaign, we’ve seen a number of times that Mike Brown still can get into his bag. Against the Bulls on Wednesday, we saw Brown once again not afraid to take away minutes from struggling players that are etched in stone in the team’s starting lineup.

Mikal Bridges only spent 13:02 on the floor in the team’s win, and that was a low-point mark in minutes since joining the Knicks. Brown played 10 players at least 13 minutes in Chicago with eight of those 10 players (Deuce McBride played 14:03) playing over 15 minutes.

Brown gives his starting five a shorter leash

In Wednesday’s win vs. the Bulls, the Knicks’ starting lineup only played together in 14 of the team’s 103 possessions (13.6%). For the season, they’ve played in 28.7% of the team’s possessions. That’s around the same mark it was last season: 26.7% of possessions saw Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns sharing the floor together when they were all active at the start of the game. After they became the starting lineup (again) on December 5, that number is 30.1%, including 31.8% during the team’s championship run last postseason.

When Tom Thibodeau was the head coach for the Knicks in his final season, which was this core’s first season together, he played the starting lineup 40.6% of the time when all five players were active. Thibodeau had the reputation of relying very heavily on his starting unit and it didn’t matter if they were producing or not—very old-school train of thought.

One of Mike Brown’s great traits is his ability to make changes on the fly and roll out lineups that are successful, especially when the starting lineup isn’t working. The starting lineup last season had a 118.5 offensive rating, a 114.8 defensive rating, and a +3.7 net rating across 1,647 possessions together, including the NBA Cup Final and the postseason. If you tighten that sample to since December 5, it’s just a 118.1 ORTG and +2.6 NETRTG.

All other lineups in 2025-26 had a 121.1 ORTG, 111.8 DRTG, and +9.3 NETRTG in 8,193 possessions. In games since December 5 when all five starters were healthy, all other lineups had a 121.1 ORTG, 106.7 DRTG, and +14.4 NETRTG in 3,608 possessions.

As we saw in the postseason, you can’t just abandon the starting lineup, because once they’re clicking, they’re unstoppable. When they’re unstoppable, that leads the Knicks to hoisting up the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The starting lineup had a +19.9 NETRTG in the Finals.

Early numbers reveal a familiar problem

This season, the starting lineup has struggled out of the gate with a 99.3 ORTG, 107.9 DRTG, and -8.6 NETRTG in 141 possessions. They’ve lost their minutes in four of five games, only winning their minutes against Detroit. All other lineups have a 116.9 ORTG, 113.1 DRTG, and +3.8 NETRTG in 350 possessions, having won their minutes in all but one game.

Dating back to December 5 of last season, including the NBA Cup Final, postseason, and this season, the starters have lost their minutes in 26 of 59 games (44.1%). Over the span of an 82-game season, that’s a 36-win pace. In that same exact span, all other lineups have won their minutes as a collective in 45 of 59 games (76.3%); that’s a 63-win pace over an 82-game season.

Finding answers on the bench

Remember those comebacks vs. the Cavs on Christmas Day and Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season? On Christmas Day, the starting lineup had a 68.8 ORTG and -62.5 NETRTG across 16 possessions. All other lineups ended up having a 135.3 ORTG and +12.7 NETRTG across the other 85 possessions in the game. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the starting lineup had an 80.4 ORTG and -44.2 NETRTG in their 35 possessions together. Across all other lineup configurations in that game, the Knicks had a 120.8 ORTG and +34.5 NETRTG in 72 possessions.

The story was the same on Wednesday vs. the Bulls. The starters ended up playing just 14 possessions together—the first three-and-a-half minutes of the game and the first three minutes of the second half—posting a -4.8 NETRTG. All other lineups had a +7.6 NETRTG with bench players such as Jordan Clarkson, Tyler Kolek, and Landry Shamet coming in to save the day.

The Knicks had a +42.0 NETRTG in Clarkson’s minutes, a +26.0 NETRTG in Kolek’s minutes, and a +22.0 NETRTG in Shamet’s minutes. They were three of the Knicks’ four big winners from their victory in Chicago.

Again, Brown’s ability to insert the right solution to their problems virtually every game is the reason why the Knicks can never be counted out. Having a coach that is very good at optimizing the right lineups goes a long way in the team having success.