In the New York Knicks' first game in their NBA Cup defense, they unfortunately lost the game 98-93 to the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a superb performance by the 76ers' Tyrese Maxey, but it seems they really capitalized on the Knicks' defense.

New York head coach Mike Brown was frustrated about how the Knicks looked on defense. It was a frustrating night because it was a big blow to the hopes of an NBA Cup repeat and another loss that drops them to a 2-4 record.

Mike Brown laments the Knicks' troubling defense against the 76ers

It is a challenging result for the Knicks because the Knicks had the chance to get back on track to a 3-3 record. Unfortunately, they suffered yet another loss to the 76ers, which gives them a 2-0 edge in the head-to-head matchup.

While Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns scored over 20 points apiece, it was still quite an underwhelming performance for the Knicks. This is not what people would like to see, especially with their status as defending champions.

MORE: Mike Brown's reality check from the slow start to the Knicks' season

Scoring 93 points is not the optimal approach to a game but it seems that Brown had more of a problem with what transpired on defense. He was not a fan of how easy the 76ers had it at certain points in the game.

"Gotta give Philadelphia credit; they won the ball game. When you watch this game, though, especially in the first half, how they got downhill so easily. They were getting in our paint left and right. It was really, really easy; we weren't in our shifts," Brown said about the Knicks' defense after the game.

"To continue to have that ball dribbling into the paint, especially in the paint when they shot 5-7 from the three-point line, was not good."

Brown also commented about how the Knicks are trying to hit home runs on every offensive play. It is definitely an inconsistent approach to the game across both sides of the ball, and Brown wants to fix that moving forward if they want any chances of getting back to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

More NBA news: