Though New York won the NBA Cup — beating San Antonio, as it were — and started this season strong, its path to the Finals was not easy, with stretches during midseason in which Boston, Cleveland and Detroit seemed to have usurped New York as a Finals contender. First-year coach Mike Brown said he "actually hoped there would be some big, rocky times or adverse times because you have to try to fight through them as an organization, not just as a team, but as an organization, to see if everybody can stay connected during those times," he told reporters Tuesday."Getting to the Finals is not easy. If you can navigate through some of those adverse or tough times throughout the season, you’ll give yourself a chance when it really matters, which is the postseason," he said.One challenge was how to use the Knicks' depth by tinkering with his rotation. He called it a lesson he learned in part from his time working with the Spurs under former coach Gregg Popovich."One of the many things I learned from Pop and Steve [Kerr]; Steve was really good at trying to play a lot of different guys," Brown said. "Not only that, a guy that hadn’t been in the rotation for a while, one game he might throw him out there as a starter. That kept guys engaged or on their toes, however you want to call it."Then at the end of the day, I’m not a medical person, but just from what medical people say, if you can kind of control the minutes during the regular season, it helps them during the postseason."