NEW YORK -- Knicks coach Mike Brown wasn't pleased with the free throw disparity in his team's 115-107 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, calling Jalen Brunson's lack of attempts "alarming."
Brunson, who entered the night averaging a career-high 7.8 attempts, didn't go to the line once against the Cavs.
"I'm a little surprised," Brown said as the Knicks' four-game winning streak ended at Madison Square Garden. "I have to go back and watch the film, but Jalen plays 34 minutes and has zero free throw attempts. That's pretty alarming."
Overall, the Cavaliers were 20-of-25 from the line. The Knicks were 11-of-11.
"I'm not sure how or why it's that way," Brown said. "I know [at] one time the free throw advantage was 18-3. That's not why we lost the game, but you just hope to get a little bit better whistle when you're playing a good team because it's already hard enough to go win the game."
Brunson, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, had 27 points on 12-of-23 shooting, a bounce-back effort after going just 7-of-18 from the field against the Milwaukee Bucks a night earlier.
But Brown wanted more, especially juxtaposed with Cleveland guard James Harden, who was 9-of-11 from the line on his way to a season-high 32 points.
Brunson, as his custom, preferred not to wade into any controversy after the loss.
"I'll have to control what I can control, and I'll leave it at that," he said. "Sometimes you have to make adjustments, no matter how the game is being officiated or not. Being able to adjust in-game is part of not just playing basketball but playing sports."
Brunson's extra offense was needed throughout.
Josh Hart returned after a three-game absence (right ankle injury, illness) but had only six points. Mikal Bridges continued to struggle, playing only 17 minutes, including none in the final quarter, a night after playing only four minutes in the second half of the blowout win over the Bucks.
Brown pointed to the play of Landry Shamet and Miles McBride -- they combined to go 7-for-14 from 3-point range -- as the reason behind Bridges' lack of minutes against the Cavaliers.
Bridges entered averaging 6.3 points on 32.9% shooting, including 26.5% from 3-point range.
Brown said pulling him from the starting lineup would be a "panic decision."
"It's going to be hard to find minutes at times for Mikal and Josh because those two are playing at a high level," he said. "He's like a lot of players, had their good moments and not-so-good moments. Mikal has a track record of playing at a high level."