ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Traffic is flowing on I-40 at Atrisco Vista after a five-vehicle crash on I-40. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said no major injuries were reported, but the interstate was shut down, so crews could move the vehicles out of the way. BCSO said all lanes have now reopened.
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I-40 at Atrisco Vista reopens after five vehicle crash
THROWN Announce U.S. Headlining Tour With MUGSHOT, VOMIT FORTH & YOUR SPIRIT DIES
Swedish nü-metalcore act Thrown have confirmed a series of U.S. headlining dates surrounding their upcoming spring tour with In Flames, Distant, and Upon Stone. The new leg will feature support from Mugshot, Vomit Forth, and Your Spirit Dies, bringing an extra punch of heavy energy to each stop.
The full tour kicks off on April 27 at Strummers in Fresno, CA and wraps up on May 16 at the London Music Hall in London, ON. Get your tickets here.
w/ Mugshot, Vomit Forth & Your Spirit Dies
4/27 Fresno CA Strummers
4/28 San Diego CA Soma Side Stage
4/30 Tucson AZ The Rock
5/1 El Paso TX Lowbrow Palace
5/2 Ft Worth TX Tulips FTW
5/3 Jackson MS Hal & Mals
5/5 Pensacola FL The Handlebar
5/7 Augusta GA Grantski Records
5/8 Chattanooga TN The Signal
w/ In Flames, Distant & Upon Stone
5/12 Milwaukee WI The Rave
5/13 East Moline IL The Rust Belt
5/15 Indianapolis IN The Egyptian Room
5/16 London ON London Music Hall
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Fintech Airwallex Earmarks $1.1 Billion for European Expansion
EXCLUSIVE: Airwallex has been courting clients with global customer bases across the U.K., France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates.
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Bracketology winners and losers: Duke pops Florida State’s bubble — UConn
Florida State’s late-season surge came to a gutting end on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament as the Seminoles fell 80-79 to Duke. FSU would have surged into NCAA Tournament consideration with an upset win over the mighty Blue Devils, and they nearly pulled it off.
The ‘Noles led by eight in the second half behind a huge performance from Lajae Jones and Robert McCray V. The duo combined for 53 points as FSU scorched the nets with 52% shooting against a Duke team playing shorthanded. In the end, a potential go-ahead 3-point attempt from McCray missed the mark just before the final horn.
While it wasn’t Florida State’s night, going toe-to-toe with the current No. 1 overall seed in CBS Sports Bracketology served as another sign that the program is progressing. The Seminoles stood at just 7-11 (0-5 ACC) in mid-January under first-year coach Luke Loucks. At that point, the 35-year-old former Seminoles guard and longtime NBA assistant unlocked his team’s winning gear.
Before Thursday’s loss, FSU had won 10 of its past 12 games. The Seminoles won’t be going dancing, but the program appears to have a bright future.
The Duke-Florida State thriller was one of several conference tournament games on Thursday with serious bubble implications. Here’s the rundown of Bracketology-oriented winners and losers from the day’s action as Selection Sunday looms.
Winner: Oklahoma claims final spot — for now
Like Florida State, Oklahoma has rebounded from a miserable start to conference play to play meaningful postseason basketball. The Sooners passed SMU as the last team in the CBS Sports Bracketology field of 68 on Thursday night after beating Texas A&M 83-63 in the second round of the SEC Tournament. The victory improved the Sooners to 19-14 and set the stage for a quarterfinal showdown with Arkansas on Friday night that could determine OU’s final fate.
OU’s rise to serious NCAA Tournament consideration is a remarkable surge that seemed impossible in early February. The Sooners have won eight of their past 10 games since a nine-game losing streak early in SEC play.
Winner: No. 1 seed candidates survive debuts
Duke survived FSU’s upset bid and will remain the No. 1 overall seed in CBS Sports Bracketology for now, as Isaiah Evans led the way with 32 points for a team playing without injured starters Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II.
Fellow projected 1-seed Arizona began its postseason journey with an 81-59 thrashing of UCF in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. UConn, which is the top-ranked No. 2 seed in CBS Sports Bracketology, throttled Xavier 93-68 in Big East Tournament quarterfinal action. If the Huskies win the Big East Tournament and projected No. 1 seed Florida fails to win the SEC Tournament, UConn will have a case to surpass the Gators as the fourth No. 1 seed.
Loser: Miami (Ohio) leaves it in the committee’s hands
Miami (Ohio) finally suffered its first loss Thursday, falling 87-83 to UMass in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament. The RedHawks are still in the CBS Sports Bracketology field, but the defeat leaves their ultimate fate in the hands of the selection committee. With a Wins Above Bubble (WAB) mark of roughly 1.75, Miami’s resume should hold up well in the committee room when compared against teams on the cut line. One of WAB’s greatest features is that it allows the committee to compare resumes from vastly different schedules. The RedHawks received minimal credit for their 26 wins against Quad 3 and Quad 4 competition. But the series of incremental gains accumulated through those victories was not eradicated by one bad loss. Still, the UMass loss caps Miami’s seeding ceiling, as a double-digit seed is now firmly in the realm of possibility.
Miami (Ohio) stunned by UMass, still projected in NCAA Tournament field — but the fallout could be big
Cameron Salerno
Winner: Two-bid MAC appears likely
Miami’s loss brought an obvious silver lining for the MAC, as the conference is now positioned to send two teams to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. Assuming Miami is selected as an at-large team, it will be joined by the eventual tournament champion. No. 2 seed Akron actually rates as the league’s top team in predictive metrics and survived a scare against Buffalo to emerge with. 73-70 win. If the Zips make it to the Big Dance, they could be a prime Cinderella candidate. But don’t sleep on UMass, which will be riding high after handing Miami its only loss of the season.
Loser: NC State can’t stack wins
NC State could have removed any shred of doubt over its NCAA Tournament credentials by upsetting No. 2 seed Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. But the Wolfpack fell 81-74 and will enter Selection Sunday at 20-13 with seven losses in their last nine games. This team hasn’t won consecutive games since early February, and the finer points of its resume don’t hold up well against scrutiny. NC State’s best road wins over Clemson and SMU have depreciated in value, and a 24-point victory over North Carolina comes with a significant asterisk since UNC was missing stars Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar. The Wolfpack are almost certainly safe. But a trip to the First Four remains in the range of potential outcomes.
Loser: Auburn wilts under pressure
Auburn could have moved to a position of relative security with a win over Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. But the Tigers wilted in the second half, falling 72-62 in a defeat that could prove fatal for their at-large hopes come Sunday. At 17-16, they are now back in the First Four Out within CBS Sports Bracketology. Tennessee used a 20-0 run to turn a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead late in the second half as star freshman Nate Ament stole the show with 27 points.
Winner: Seton Hall stays alive
At minimum, Seton Hall will need a victory over St. John’s in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament on Friday to have a true case for at-large consideration. But the Pirates took an essential first step Thursday by edging Creighton 72-61 in the quarterfinals. With so many other bubble teams struggling, there is a narrow path for coach Shaheen Holloway’s club. The Pirates are still a long shot, but they aren’t done yet.
Loser: Missouri will sweat a little bit
Is Missouri safe? Most likely. Are the Tigers a “lock?” Not quite. That status was within reach as the Tigers erased a 16-point deficit in the second half against Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Tournament. But Mizzou couldn’t get across the finish line in a 78-72 loss that will make the Tigers at least somewhat nervous on Selection Sunday. The real uncertainty is probably less about making the field and more about potentially getting slotted in the First Four. Three straight losses entering Selection Sunday simply took the wind from the sails of a 20-12 Mizzou team that played a weak nonconference schedule.
David protein bar founder pushes back after lawsuit alleges company undercounted calories
A growing controversy surrounding David protein bars — a viral favorite among wellness influencers — is drawing comparisons to the movie “Mean Girls.”
A class action lawsuit filed in January alleges that the popular bars have more than 400% more fat and 80% more calories than advertised. It has prompted a flurry of recent social media posts referring to the film’s queen-bee character Regina George, who finds out that the “healthy” diet bars she was given are actually making her gain weight, not lose it. Others likened the situation to the “Seinfeld” episode in which the “nonfat” yogurt that everyone’s obsessed with is — spoiler alert — full of fat.
On Wednesday, the company’s founder, Peter Rahal, responded in a statement on X: “No one is getting Regina Georged.”
In an interview, Rahal said the issue comes down to the way calories are calculated.
“It’s a frivolous case where they’re using the wrong measurement and method to measure calories,” he said.
The labels on David protein bars — which come in flavors like fudge brownie, blueberry pie and cake batter — list 150 calories and 2 grams of fat. But the lawsuit describes independent tests that found the bars to have 268 to 275 calories per serving and 11 to 13.5 grams of fat.
The plaintiffs say the discrepancy violates Food and Drug Administration standards, which mandate that the nutrient content of a food item not exceed the declared value by more than 20%.
But Rahal said the plaintiffs’ testing was flawed. The discrepancy, he said, has to do with an ingredient in David protein bars called esterified propoxylated glycerol, or EPG, a modified plant-based fat substitute that moves through the body without getting digested.
“This is what makes David have 150 calories,” Rahal said. “It’s really a special ingredient that allows the food to taste like fat but doesn’t have the caloric impact.”
The laboratory cited in the lawsuit, Rahal said, used a device called a bomb calorimeter to calculate the calories in David bars. That method includes the calories in nondigestible ingredients — including EPG — in its count, he added.
“The science is unequivocal. You don’t use a bomb calorimeter to measure nonnutritive things. It’s very, very basic,” Rahal said.
The calorie count listed on David protein bars, Rahal added, is based on a calculation of just the calories the body absorbs. The company complied with FDA regulations when it developed its bars, he said.
The lawsuit does not specify the method used to measure the calories. Anresco Laboratories, which did the testing, said it could not comment because of confidentiality agreements.
Amy Goodson, a registered dietitian, said EPG has been around as an ingredient since the 1980s and has gone mainstream in recent years.
“This ingredient allows you to actually put less fat grams on the food label itself, because it yields 92% less calories than a typical gram of fat would,” she said. “It’s resistant to digestive enzymes, so it’s going through your system, but it’s not actually digesting.”
That’s a confusing concept for the everyday consumer, Goodson added.
“We look at a nutrition facts label and assume that what’s on the label is what’s in the product,” she said.
David Protein, founded in 2024, quickly rose to prominence, with top names in the wellness and longevity space signing on as investors, including Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and podcaster, and Peter Attia, a celebrity doctor and author. Last month, Attia stepped down as chief science officer at David Protein amid backlash over his emails with Jeffrey Epstein.
The hype around David bars has come amid a national obsession with protein. The new U.S. dietary guidelines, unveiled in January, place a heavy emphasis on protein, recommending it at every meal. Brands have capitalized on the craze: “Doritos Protein” chips hit store shelves this month, Starbucks is selling protein matcha, and the company Protein Pints even advertises high-protein ice cream.
Rahal said David Protein plans to fight the lawsuit.
“Any time you’re on the forefront of innovation, there’s confusion,” he said. “We stand by our product fully.”
A new exhibit shows plaster casts of Pompeii victims
More than 20 plaster casts of victims who died in the catastrophic volcano eruption in Pompeii went on display for the first time Thursday in a permanent exhibition.The casts, which scholars call “imprints of pain,” dramatically capture the position each resident was in when they died in 79 AD. The reproductions were created by pouring liquid plaster into the voids left by the decomposed bodies in the hardened ash.Curators wanted to “give dignity to these people who are like us —women, children, men — who died during the eruption, but at the same time make it understandable,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, adding that they want people ”to understand what really happened in Pompeii.”Invented by Giuseppe Fiorelli in 1863, the technique to create the plaster casts faithfully preserves the position, expression of pain and clothing details of the victims, making them unique testimonies. It is still used by the team of scholars conducting research at the archaeological park of Pompeii.Pompeii is the only known site that allows the recovery of this type of evidence, enabling visitors to see the reproduction of objects that were destroyed and the people who lived and died at that moment.The eruption of Mount Vesuvius killed an estimated 2,000 residents within the city, with total regional casualties reaching up to 16,000. The city of Pompeii was covered by ash, then later solidified by pyroclastic flows.During the excavations in Pompeii, the remains of over a thousand victims of the eruption were found trapped in their homes or shelters, buried by a rain of pumice stones and volcanic rock, or killed by the collapse of roofs and walls under the weight of the volcanic debris, which reached a height of about three meters (about 10 feet.)The 22 casts were chosen among the best preserved remains. The victims were found across the city, from the inner areas to the gates and roads leading out of the town, where the inhabitants fled in search of safety.“They have a strong emotional impact on visitors and can be very moving,” said Silvia Martina Bertesago, archaeologist at the Pompeii Archaeological Park.“Through the analyses we can carry out today with increasingly advanced techniques, we can also understand their age and sex, but also whether they had particular diseases or particular types of diet,” she said.The exhibition is housed in the porticoes of the Palestra Grande, located opposite the Amphitheatre. As well as an area dedicated to human remains, it also includes displays of findings such as plants and food that remained buried for centuries under meters of ash and lava.
POMPEI, Campania —
More than 20 plaster casts of victims who died in the catastrophic volcano eruption in Pompeii went on display for the first time Thursday in a permanent exhibition.
The casts, which scholars call “imprints of pain,” dramatically capture the position each resident was in when they died in 79 AD. The reproductions were created by pouring liquid plaster into the voids left by the decomposed bodies in the hardened ash.
Curators wanted to “give dignity to these people who are like us —women, children, men — who died during the eruption, but at the same time make it understandable,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, adding that they want people ”to understand what really happened in Pompeii.”
Invented by Giuseppe Fiorelli in 1863, the technique to create the plaster casts faithfully preserves the position, expression of pain and clothing details of the victims, making them unique testimonies. It is still used by the team of scholars conducting research at the archaeological park of Pompeii.
Pompeii is the only known site that allows the recovery of this type of evidence, enabling visitors to see the reproduction of objects that were destroyed and the people who lived and died at that moment.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius killed an estimated 2,000 residents within the city, with total regional casualties reaching up to 16,000. The city of Pompeii was covered by ash, then later solidified by pyroclastic flows.
During the excavations in Pompeii, the remains of over a thousand victims of the eruption were found trapped in their homes or shelters, buried by a rain of pumice stones and volcanic rock, or killed by the collapse of roofs and walls under the weight of the volcanic debris, which reached a height of about three meters (about 10 feet.)
The 22 casts were chosen among the best preserved remains. The victims were found across the city, from the inner areas to the gates and roads leading out of the town, where the inhabitants fled in search of safety.
“They have a strong emotional impact on visitors and can be very moving,” said Silvia Martina Bertesago, archaeologist at the Pompeii Archaeological Park.
“Through the analyses we can carry out today with increasingly advanced techniques, we can also understand their age and sex, but also whether they had particular diseases or particular types of diet,” she said.
The exhibition is housed in the porticoes of the Palestra Grande, located opposite the Amphitheatre. As well as an area dedicated to human remains, it also includes displays of findings such as plants and food that remained buried for centuries under meters of ash and lava.
Here Are the Lyrics to Kane Brown’s ‘Woman’
Kane Brown‘s new single “Woman” is a bubbly love song, and he sings about finding a relationship that gives him a “supernatural high.”
But that’s about as far as it goes before the message stops relating to puppy love.
Flirtations and crushes don’t hold a candle to the butterflies Brown gets from his long-term partner. And the idea of being a lone wolf, out on the prowl at the bars with his friends? To hear Brown describe it, that kind of singledom is just plain silly.
Read More: Country’s Greatest Love Songs
“Woman” celebrates how great it feels to have your true partner already locked down: You know no one else will be a better match, and there’s no need to go out and look. All the giddiness and euphoria in the song’s production is about being confidently coupled up.
Who is Kane Brown’s Wife, Katelyn Brown?
Brown’s got some real-life inspiration: He and his wife Katelyn have been married since 2018 and share three kids.
The couple is so in sync that they do business together, too. The Browns’ 2022 duet “Thank God” topped the country charts, becoming only the second country song from a husband-and-wife duo to do so (the first was Tim McGraw and Faith Hill‘s “It’s Your Love” in 1997.)
They’ve kept the collaborations coming with more song releases, and worked as producers on a Lifetime movie called Thank God: Christmas at Keller Ranch.
Kane Brown, “Woman” Lyrics:
Hey, it’s 9 o’clock, the boys are all over / They talkin’ that talk like they ain’t gettin’ older / They wanna go out, get some names and some numbers / Find some 10s in a bar with a tab they can cover
Oh, they beg me to go / but I’m stayin’ home ’cause you already know
Chorus:
They talkin’ ’bout girls, but I got a woman / Yeah, I got a woman right here in my hands / They talkin’ ’bout girls, but I got a woman / Oh yeah, and she got a man
Yeah, one of a kind, yeah, one in a million / Supernatural high got me up to the ceiling / Baby, good as you look without even trying / Turn this house to a home, whatever you want, girl, I’m gonna provide it
You, you’re all that I need / It’s hard to believe that used to be me
Repeat Chorus
Talkin’ ’bout girls that ain’t got nothin’ on you / Ain’t no way I’m leaving this room / They all say that I’m missin’ out…
Repeat Chorus
50 Best Country Love Songs
Country music’s 50 best love songs include the legends — Glen Campbell, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn and Keith Whitley — and new country crooners like Blake Shelton, Thomas Rhett, Dan + Shay and more. These are the best and most popular country love songs, ranked for 2026.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
Airfares Have Doubled on Some Flights. The Sticker Shock for Spring Travel Is Upon Us.
Some executives said prices haven’t dented travel demand, but higher energy costs are expected to cut into profits.
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Five issues facing the New York Knicks ahead of the playoffs
New York Knicks coach Mike Brown speaks of a standard, not unlike former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s.
“The standard is the standard,” Tomlin would often say in his news conferences during his near two-decade run on the sideline. That standard was about Super Bowls. Tomlin took the Steelers to two of them, winning one. It’s a run of success that the Knicks, who haven’t reached the NBA Finals since 1999, can’t match.
That’s why the standard that Brown refers to is more micro. The coach, who led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Finals in 2007 and was an assistant on three title-winning teams with the Golden State Warriors, was hired last July under the expectation that he would elevate the Knicks into playing until June. But that starts with establishing winning habits in the doldrums of the regular season.
“You want to embrace your standard,” Brown said Monday night in the bowels of the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, before an eventual loss to the LA Clippers.
“I think our guys have embraced the standard of sacrifice, competitive spirit, connectivity and overall belief in each other’s process.”
For the past two months, Brown’s messaging seemed to be getting through to his team. After a 2-9 stretch from Dec. 31 through Jan. 19, the Knicks lost just four games the rest of January and all of February, buoyed by big wins over the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs that seemed to reignite championship expectations.
Now, a rocky stretch of three losses in five games — including two in a row in Los Angeles against the Clippers and Lakers — have brought back the old feelings of uneven performances, giving ammo to critics who believe the Knicks won’t be able to make a deep playoff run in the wide-open East. That wouldn’t be acceptable to owner James Dolan, who told WFAN in January that the standard for the Knicks this season, at minimum, is a Finals appearance.
“We want to get to the Finals,” Dolan said. “And we should win the Finals. This is sports and anything can happen. But getting to the Finals, we absolutely got to do.”
With six weeks left in the regular season, Brown knows the Knicks need to raise their standard. They are 42-25 and in third in the East, 1.5 games above the Cavaliers. They were 43-24 at this time a year ago.
Here are five issues that the Knicks must solve before the real season begins on April 20:
By the numbers, Towns is having a good, not great, second season in New York. His minutes, production and efficiency are down across the board — his 20.0 points per game are his fewest since he averaged 18.3 as a rookie in 2015-16 — as he has struggled at times finding his way in Brown’s offense.
He has shown the ability to carry the Knicks for stretches, including on Monday night. Twenty-one of his game-high 35 points came in the first half, as New York’s bench didn’t muster a point and ended up with 14 for the game.
Relying on Towns to carry the team has not been a formula for success, however. The Knicks are 16-11 when he takes at least 15 shots and 24-12 when he shoots fewer than 15 times.
In February, before the Knicks’ comeback win over the Rockets, Brown made it clear that the offense should run through Brunson. When asked about Towns’ season and the feeling that Towns has been underwhelming, he raised his hand about six inches above his head to symbolize Brunson as the No. 1 option. Then he brought it down a few inches to show where Towns should be — as the No. 2.
“I look at KAT and he’s probably right where he should be,” Brown said. “Maybe he should be the leading scorer, I don’t know. He gets the second-most attempts, right behind Jalen.”
“It’s a work in progress, and you got to continue to feel and evolve as a group and hopefully do it around the guys you need to.”
Brown has said he has simplified the offense to fit his entire roster, not just Towns. As gifted as an offensive option as any big in the NBA, Towns has to assert himself while not forcing his own offense — which can look clunky when he does force it. But he also has to make sure he doesn’t allow himself to disappear, either.
“My career has been so crazy where I’ve had to learn how to go with the flow,” Towns told ESPN later that evening. “My usage is high, I’ve got to do something with that. [When] my usage is low, I’ve got to maximize my opportunities so everybody else could get going.”
When told of Brown’s comments, Towns said, “You’re used to touching the ball, having a rhythm of the game, flow of the game — also minutes being lower, you have more time to get into the game.
“It’s different, something different in my career. I haven’t dealt with something like that.”
Hunkering down on defense
The Knicks were a top-five team in the clutch last season, going 19-12 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes. Their clutch-time experience showed in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the then-champion Boston Celtics, when they had two comeback victories in the opening games on the road.
They were a team that couldn’t be counted out, even if the numbers said they were an average defensive team under former coach Tom Thibodeau.
They’re a better overall unit this season, ranking eighth in defensive efficiency. They have been the league’s best defensive team since Jan. 15. They have given up 106.1 points per 100 possessions over that stretch, a huge contrast from the two prior months, when they ranked 23rd at 117 points per 100 possessions.
Josh Hart seemed surprised when notified of the recent developments.
“If that’s what the numbers say, I don’t think the numbers are wrong,” Hart told ESPN on Sunday. “I think what we’re doing is a great attention to detail and a level of physicality. I think we can sustain that. We have good players, smart players. You see the formula that it takes for us to be successful. Now we just have to sharpen that.”
Brown said defensive coordinators Darren Erman and Brendan O’Connor showed the players film on some of the league’s best defensive teams — the Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns — to highlight what they get away with and examples of good physicality.
“When we’re watching our games against those guys, we can see the contrast and difference in those kind of things,” Hart said. “You can learn from other teams, see where you can be physical, how to use that physicality to your benefit, where the refs let you play.”
The Knicks fell back to Earth against the Lakers and Clippers but have opportunities against lower-rated offensive teams coming up, including the possibility of going against a Stephen Curry-less Golden State Warriors team at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
They’ll play four top-10 offenses the rest of the season, including an April 9 showdown against the Celtics, who are second in the East and just got back Jayson Tatum from the Achilles injury he suffered against the Knicks a year ago.
Getting Brunson on track
Brunson is the key to everything the Knicks do offensively. When Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby have tried to put the ball on the floor to make plays, it hasn’t always turned out well — all roads lead back to Brunson as the sole reliable shot creator from the perimeter.
Teams have gotten more aggressive with the Knicks, however. The usually sure-handed Brunson had seven of the team’s 19 turnovers against the Lakers, and the roster spread around the mishaps the next night (20 turnovers).
Anunoby’s assist-to-turnover ratio is about even and while Bridges has been put in position to facilitate more offense, Brown doesn’t have him making reads from the top of the floor.
Brunson’s 30.3% usage rate ranks 13th in the league, right behind Cade Cunningham and Nikola Jokic, slightly higher than his rate last season (29.5%). He’s getting doubled more as teams try to force the ball out of his hands — he and Brown have found ways to get him free, but more sophisticated defenses will be more physical.
1:13
Lakers pick up home win over the Knicks
Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves shine in LeBron’s absence to take down the Knicks at home.
Brunson has avoided serious injuries this season — he missed a month with an ankle sprain last season, which hampered him in the first round against Detroit. Keeping him healthy and fresh is a goal as the Knicks approach the homestretch.
Perhaps it was signs of fatigue or strategy when he had a rough three-game stretch recently, going 16-of-50 against the Lakers, Nuggets and Thunder.
“He’s human, and he’s going to have some nights like that,” Brown said Monday. “And his track record shows that he’ll go get it done.”
Brunson’s scoring has slumped since January, as he has averaged 23.1 points in his last 31 games. He was at 29.4 in the first 30. Is that because of Brunson’s increased effort on defense?
“It’s possible, but we’re not going to focus on that,” Brunson said. “We’re more focused on doing the little things. The offense will take care of itself.”
The plan for the oft-injured but critically effective backup center has worked as well as anyone could’ve anticipated. After playing just 48 games the past two seasons because of an assortment of injuries, Robinson has played 48 this season, with the team holding him out of back-to-back games and keeping his minutes at a manageable rate (19.2 per game) to ensure he will be ready for a heavier load come playoff time.
He averaged 17 minutes per game in November and 19.9 in December. In January, his heaviest month to date, he averaged nearly 22 minutes and crossed the 10-rebound-a-night threshold for the first month since November 2023.
Casey Smith, the Knicks’ highly regarded vice president of sports medicine, has spearheaded Robinson’s plan. Smith has been part of multiple runs with the U.S. men’s national team during the Olympics, as well as winning the 2024-25 NBA Athletic Training Staff of the Year award.
“The biggest thing is to get [Robinson] in games this year, to make sure that he stays healthy,” Brown said Monday.
Robinson’s presence gives the Knicks an advantage on the offensive glass, which Brown has said is part of their strategy to become a more potent 3-point shooting team. Many of their comebacks, such as Christmas Day against Cleveland or recently against the Rockets, were in large part because of Robinson’s offensive rebounding, which leads to a scrambled defense and open shooters.
Robinson’s free throw shooting woes have returned (39.5%) after he shot a career-high 68% last season, but his offensive rebounds per 36 minutes ranks No. 1 in the league (8.0). That’s a skill Brown plans to use in abundance over the next few months.
Holding everyone accountable — including Brown
Brown has had to learn a team that already knew itself before he arrived. The adjustment, especially in November when players, including Hart, grumbled about being benched in fourth quarters in consecutive games to Memphis and Orlando, hasn’t always been smooth.
But Brown has adjusted — and so have the players. The Knicks have turned into one of the league’s best 3-point shooting teams (sixth in makes, fourth in percentage), while going from a fifth-ranked offensive team to third this season. They were 14th in defense a year ago and are now eighth.
“Everybody’s a lot better with the accountability aspect of it too,” Brown said. “Not just making sure we’re holding each other accountable but being OK with being held accountable.”
Brown has talked about leaning on the assistants who were holdovers on Thibodeau’s staff for guidance on dealing with players. Being collaborative and amenable to suggestions made him an attractive hire following Thibodeau. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t show his teeth at times.
After Sunday’s loss to the LeBron James-less Lakers, he was as outwardly frustrated as he has been all season. That’s perhaps a callback to the standard he wants.
He routinely said of the Lakers, “This is not a knock at them …” and then referred to mishaps the Knicks made all afternoon: the turnovers, poor decisions and bad defense.
“Whether it’s this game or another game, I’m always direct,” Brown said of his message to his team. “There’s no sugarcoating.”
The Knicks are two games behind the Celtics for the 2-seed in the East, a potential rematch of last season’s shocking semifinals. They’re just ahead of the Cavaliers, who defeated the Knicks easily in their last meeting. If the Knicks slip to the 4-seed, it could put them in the crosshairs of the Pistons, who are likely headed toward the top spot. Detroit has beaten the Knicks in three meetings this season, all in decisive fashion.
That’s where Brown will be ultimately judged: his team’s performance in the playoffs — and the road to getting there these next few weeks is just as important.
