The Knicks flew to LA, and they made sure to make it look like Hollywood lights don’t translate to winning nights—for New York, at least.
The Knickerbockers will remain on the road for a couple more games, yet they will surely get a break as Utah and Indy come up next.
Here’s the latest from your (not so of late) superheroes.
Mike Brown
On not overreacting to two turnover-heavy losses in Los Angeles:
“We had 18 or 19 turnovers last night. We had 20 tonight, and for 24 points. They outscored us by 14 points just in that area alone. So I like our fight. I like the way we played in the second half for the most part. We’ve just got to find a way to take care of the basketball. We’ve been pretty good in that area and yesterday we weren’t and today we weren’t. It’s one of those things we’re going to keep talking about, keep showing it and we’ll see how it goes forward. I’m not going to overreact to two games. On the road against good teams, it impacted the outcome of both games in a very heavy way.”
On losses being inevitable down the stretch:
“We’re going to lose. We’re going to take a hit. But hopefully we don’t take too many hits. And if and when we lose, there’s a right way, because sometimes you just face a team and they’re just hot . . . Sometimes it may not be your day or your night. As long as you’re trying to do the things that you’re supposed to do on both ends of the floor and you brought the correct approach to the game, then you chalk it up as, OK, let’s learn from this and keep it moving.”
On slipping in multiple areas vs. the Clippers:
“They’re human. We’re not going to [trend upward] all the time. We’re gonna slip in some areas. You just hope that you slip in one area instead of three [against the Lakers].”
On not liking the way the team lost on Monday:
“Our guys have been playing well. I’m just talking about tonight, and could it linger? Yeah, we could take another step back [Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers]. I don’t know. There’s some games you lose where you say, ‘You know what? They just shot the s— out of the ball, and it wasn’t our night.’ But to have a hand in losing a game yourself by not taking care of the things that are just effort and locked-in things — [that’s the part that’s unacceptable].”
On turnovers being the biggest difference vs. the Clippers:
“Biggest difference in the basketball game was our turnovers. …I liked our fight. I liked the way we played in the second half for the most part. We’ve just got to find a way to take care of the basketball.”
On not being concerned about Brunson’s shooting slump:
“He’s human and he’s going to have some nights (when he struggles to shoot). His track record shows that he can go get it done. It’s not anything I’m concerned about or I’m looking at. And like I said, when he does have nights like that, how else can you impact the game, and he’s shown that he can do that.”
On giving Tyler Kolek a short opportunity on Monday:
“I thought Jose was struggling a little bit. So I threw Tyler out there to see if we could get something from him, similar to me throwing Jordan Clarkson out there (in the previous game against the Lakers). Tyler didn’t get a long time to play because we put Jalen out there to see if we could make a run. But I said this before, those guys have to keep themselves ready just in case their number is called. Because it can be called at any time.”
On crediting the medical staff for Mitchell Robinson’s health:
“Casey (Smith, the VP of Sports Medicine), Chico (Goenega, the head athletic trainer), those guys, and Quentin Dolan, those guys have done a nice job of coming up with a plan. And the biggest thing is to get him in games this year and making sure he stays healthy. And so our whole medical staff, starting with those three guys down to everybody that’s in our medical department. They’ve done a great job of keeping him healthy and keeping him in the game and practicing and stuff like that. So I applaud them more than anybody else for what they put together and how they’re executing it.”
Josh Hart
On Brunson staying even-keeled during his shooting slump:
“I think he’s been pretty good and pretty even-keeled. I’m sure he’s probably frustrated with some of the stuff. Sometimes we probably have got to help him in terms of getting cleaner shots, getting better shots, maybe try to get him more into the flow of it. That’s something that we have to figure out. He works too hard to have bad-shooting games consistently, so we know that’ll turn around. In the meantime, we have to make sure to make it easier on him.”
Jalen Brunson
On trusting his work through the shooting slump:
“It’s gonna happen. It’s part of the game. But you’ve got to continue to trust your work ethic and trust everything you put into it. Those things are gonna come around. That’s why you have to control the controllables. It’s part of being in basketball. Like I just said, you’ve got to trust your work ethic. Continue to be in the gym, do your routine, maybe switch it up a little bit, but at the same time, you’re still working on what you’ve got to work on.”
On how much pressure he puts on himself:
“As much as it needs to be.”
On playing into the Clippers’ strengths with turnovers:
“I think a lot of them, we were getting downhill and trying to make plays. But we got to be better playing off two feet obviously, playing more controlled. But (the Clippers) got a lot of guys on their team who are steal guys, who are long wingspans, play passing lanes. That’s what they do. We played to their strengths.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On turnovers being the recipe for disaster vs. the Clippers:
“Treat the ball better. The turnovers obviously put us in a bad spot. We didn’t stop the bleeding in the second and fourth quarters. And even though we made three more shots than them, they made four more 3s. That’s a recipe right there for disaster.”
Mohamed Diawara
On dunking over Nic Batum:
“I was just driving and dunked the ball and fortunately (Batum) was there. But that was a good play. Funny to see that. My first dunk – my first poster – was against him.”
On finally getting his first NBA dunk:
“(The dunk) felt good. It was about time. I was looking forward to doing it.”
Ty Jerome
Victor Wembanyama
Anthony Edwards
Kurt Helin
Raphielle Johnson