Mike Brown has been a part of some crazy comebacks during his time in the NBA, and he wasn’t going to let Wednesday night’s chance for one go by without a fight.

But with the Knicks down 16 with just under two minutes to play against Orlando, Jalen Brunson suffered a right ankle injury, which raises questions about the new head coach’s late-game strategy.

“I’m trying to win the game,” Brown said ahead of Friday night’s matchup with the Miami Heat. “A couple minutes left, stop and two threes, and it's a two-possession game. And that’s all I was trying to do, is win the game.

On the night, the Knicks, struggling all night, entered the fourth quarter down 18 and cut the lead to nine with six minutes to play. At the 4:18 mark, Brown took a timeout after the Magic hit a three-pointer to push the lead back to 15. In the flow of the game, pulling the starters at that point would have seemed like a premature waving of the white flag. While his side was having an off night and playing on the back-end of a back-to-back, sneaking up and overtaking Orlando in the closing moments wasn’t out of the question.

Out of the timeout, with his starters still in the game, Brunson hit a layup and then the Knicks got a pair of stops. However, Karl-Anthony Towns and then Brunson both missed floaters with a chance to cut the deficit closer and turn up the heat on Orlando. But they got no closer.

And in Brown's defense, there wasn't another stoppage of play to send in the reserves between his timeout and Brunson's injury, which was sustained when the guard stepped on a defender’s foot driving to he basket with 1:54 to play.

“If I feel like our guys are still being competitive and still trying to play the right way and win the game, and I feel like there’s a chance, then I’m gonna try and win the game,” the head coach said.

But Brown said there is no set strategy for making this determination.

“It could change,” he said. “Sometimes it may be four minutes left in the game, depending on the flow of the game. Sometimes it may be right down to the second.”

Additional testing on Brunson’s ankle revealed he sustained a Grade 1 ankle sprain, league sources tell SNY's Ian Begley, meaning he would miss Friday's game and the guard would be evaluated daily.

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