Mike Brown defends controversial Jalen Brunson decision with answer straight out of Tom Thibodeau’s book

As it turns out, Mike Brown sounds eerily similar to Tom Thibodeau on the subject of garbage time.

The new Knicks coach defended his decision to leave Jalen Brunson on the court in the final minutes of Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Magic, stating, “I’m trying to win the game,” while referencing his experience in “crazy comebacks.”

“There’s a couple minutes left. A stop and two 3-pointers and it’s a two-possession game,” Brown said. “And that’s all I was trying to do was win the game.”

Brown’s math is off since Brunson turned his ankle with the Knicks trailing by 16 and 1:54 remaining, with the injury confirmed Thursday through testing as a Grade 1 sprain, a source said.

Brunson was ruled out of Friday’s game against the Heat and it’s unclear when he will return, with Brown saying he’ll lean on Knicks doctor Casey Smith for daily updates.

Though Wednesday’s deficit appeared insurmountable when Brunson was hurt, Brown clearly felt hopeful and said his definition of garbage time can change “depending on the flow of the game.”

As justification, Brown referenced his time as a Nuggets video coordinator in 1994, when Denver’s Rodney Rodgers scored nine points in nine seconds to push the Jazz to the brink.

The Nuggets still lost the game on a Jazz winning shot from Jeff Malone.

“[Sometimes I’ll wave the white flag] with four minutes left in the game, depending on the flow of the game. Sometimes it may be down to the last second,” Brown said. “If I feel like our guys are still being competitive, they’re still trying to play the right way and win the game, and I feel like there’s a chance — then I’m going to try to win the game.”

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Thibodeau had a similar approach with a similar historical example — although he often referenced Tracy McGrady’s late-game explosion in 2004, rather than Rodgers’ 10 years prior.

Still, neither Thibodeau nor Brown ever recovered from a 16-point deficit with under three minutes remaining.

And now they both oversaw injuries in garbage time as Knicks coaches.

Under Thibodeau, RJ Barrett missed four games after spraining his ankle in the final seconds of a 17-point defeat.

Under Brown, Brunson is missing time with a sprained ankle sustained when there was little reasonable doubt about the game’s outcome.

“You never want anybody hurt, let alone somebody on your team and somebody with the caliber of Jalen,” Brown said when asked if he was relieved the injury wasn’t more severe, especially since Brunson left the arena in crutches. “You definitely don’t want that to happen, but I don’t know all the specifics.”

Brown’s explanation of his garbage-time philosophy seems to run counter to his message in training camp, when the coach said he would prioritize health over chasing victories.

“The biggest thing is trying to make sure you watch everybody’s minutes instead of trying to chase games,” Brown said Sept. 30. “There might be some games where maybe you throw the towel in early.

“It’s important to win, but you also have to understand, ‘Hey, I want to keep this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, this guy’s minutes here, instead of trying to extend everybody’s minutes.

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“Because if the season is long, we don’t want anybody worn out by the end.”

Trying to avoid the end to New York’s five-game winning streak Wednesday, Brown chased the win and Brunson turned his ankle — the same one that cost him a month last season after a sprain.

So the Knicks on Friday started Miles McBride, who is more of a shooting guard.

The Knicks are thin at the position after the sudden retirement of Malcolm Brogdon in preseason, with Tyler Kolek as the only natural point guard after Brunson.

Regardless of that conundrum, Brown, in retrospect, still didn’t sound like he regretted his decision to leave Brunson in Wednesday’s garbage time. As he said, “If I feel like I have a chance, I’m going to try to win the game.”