The New York Knicks suffered a tough 112-101 loss against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night, spoiling a heartfelt return to Sacramento for Knicks head coach Mike Brown.

Brown was the head coach of the Kings from 2022-24 before heading to New York and he is clearly still beloved in the California capital based on the standing ovation he received from Sacramento fans ahead of the game.

Brown had a 107-88 record as head coach of the Kings and helped lead Sacramento to their first playoff appearance in over 15 seasons when the Kings reached the first round of the playoffs in the 2022-23 season.

After the niceties were over, Brown didn’t have much more to be happy about based on the way that the Knicks played throughout the game.

Sacramento bested New York in field goal, three point and free throw shooting percentage and out-rebounded the Knicks by three boards.

Outside of the numbers, Brown was frustrated with the overall sloppiness the Knicks played with. After the game, Brown cited an overall failure to follow the game plan and scouting reports and a lack of effort on drives with poor execution as some of his major disappointments with the way his team played.

Brown was particularly upset with the amount of fouls that the Knicks committed. Brown mentioned after the game that he “wished” he could blame the amount of fouls on the referees, but he knew that his tea was obviously committing the blunders.

The Knicks committed 24 personal fouls in the game, sending the Kings to the charity tripe 38 times. The Kings made the most of those trips as well, shooting 32-38.

“We cannot play the way that we played today,” Brown said (via Sean Cunningham of KCRA News). “This was one of the worst, if not the worst, that I’ve seen us play the entire year in terms of following a game plan and keeping the game simple.”

If losing the way the Knicks did during Brown’s Sacramento homecoming wasn’t bad enough, the Knicks also suffered the loss of their best player to injury.

Jalen Brunson limped off the court in the first quarter and didn’t return after playing just five minutes and scoring four points. Brunson appeared to turn his foot over and roll his ankle while setting up for a dribble and immediately went down.

Brunson was able to leave the court on his own two feet, but seeing any kind of injury to a player of his caliber is a scary sight for Knicks fans.

Brunson is far and away the Knicks offensive leader. He’s currently averaging 28.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game and while there aren’t any updates on his condition, the prospect of the Knicks star missing any time with an ankle injury would be a devastating blow for New York.