The Knicks decided they’d rather beat the in-conference Raptors than gamble on a win over the Thunder.
Coach Brown used Mitch against Toronto, keeping him under wraps for the what-if matchup against the reigning champions.
As KAT said, “Count your eggs.”
Mike Brown
On hanging defensively in a low-scoring third quarter against Toronto:
“We came out the third quarter… couldn’t score the ball like we did in the first half, but we hung in there defensively. And to hold a team like that that kicks out and runs in transition the way they do to 37 points in the second half, is a pretty good half defensively. We got to hang our hat on that end of the floor and our guys are doing it, they’re doing it with physicality first and then trying to go get that ball off the glass second.”
On Josh Hart’s defensive performance:
“Josh Hart was phenomenal in a lot of different areas. 50-50 balls, guarding different guys. Skills, deflections, you name it. Josh seemed like he was everywhere tonight on that end of the floor.”
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ defensive impact:
“It’s been huge. Again, I say this all the time, one guy can’t guard one other guy in the league. It’s almost impossible, especially when they do call fouls. And in the way the floor is spaced. It’s tough to do that, and so you have to have five guys on a string. The game right now is space and pace, and everybody looks at KAT like, ‘oh, you can’t do it.’ Well, he can do it. He’s showing he can do it, and we need him to continue to do it. Whether it’s in the pick-and-roll, coming back in transition, coming over to help from the weak side or guarding this guy in a one-on-one situation. He’s been fantastic.”
On the need for relying on defense when shots aren’t falling:
“We feel like we can score. It was a good offensive game, shooting 56 percent from the floor, 32 assists, but we didn’t play well, especially offensively in the second half. To be able to know that you can hang your hat on that end of the floor is going to be huge for us because the ball doesn’t always go in the hoop.”
On seeing the Thunder matchup as an opportunity to grow:
“If they beat us, at the end of the day, or if we beat them at the end of the day, what does it mean? But they do a lot of things at that end of the floor. From the standpoint of this is a really good defense, a really good offense, they got an MVP candidate (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), they have two bigs (Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren), they have two individual defenders. So how are we going to handle the stuff they do on both ends of the floor? If we get stuck here, or stuck there, it’s an opportunity to continue to grow.”
On prioritizing the Raptors game in the back-to-back:
“[The Raptors] are in our conference and all that stuff. Oklahoma City is in the Western Conference.”
On crediting the medical staff for Robinson’s availability:
“We love the medical group that we have. [Vice president of sports medicine] Casey [Smith] and [senior vice president of player performance] Quentin [Dolan] and [head athletic trainer] Anthony [Goenaga], they’ve done a nice job heading it with our doctors. They’ve spearheaded this, so I’ve gotta give those guys a ton of credit. And starting with Mitch because he’s bought into this plan and he’s tried to execute it at the highest of high levels. So I give all those guys a ton of credit because I’m just kind of jumping on the bandwagon and following their lead. To see him out there, because the best thing almost anybody can have is their availability, so to see him out there as much as he’s been out there has been really good for us.”
Mitchell Robinson
On letting coaches decide his back-to-back availability:
“It wasn’t my choice. I let coaches decide which game they want me to play.”
On sticking with the current load management plan:
“I feel great. It’s awesome. This plan we’re on, we should just stick to it.”
On returning after tweaking his ankle:
“I came in here, re-taped, sat my ass right here [in the locker room] and listened to coach and went right back out.”
On whether his ankle will be examined:
“They’ll look at it probably [Wednesday]. But I’m straight.”
On why his free-throw percentage has dropped:
“I don’t get shots up like that (in practice). I just do a lot of lay-ups, hook shots, stuff like that. If you don’t get shots, you don’t know how it is. You’re not comfortable with it. So it’s just like — you got to get some shots up. I do it in the summertime, and I’m straight. And I just get away from it.”
On his rookie-year shooting compared to now:
“Like I said before, when I was getting up shots, rookie year, I was 60 percent. So if I get shots up, everything will be alright. Until then, it is what it is.”
On needing shooting reps for confidence:
“If you’re not shooting shots — even if you’re not going to shoot them in the game, it’s still good to have that muscle memory like that. And also confidence (comes) with it, too. It goes hand in hand.”
On finding rhythm and comfort with his new Knicks role:
“If you ain’t comfortable with your shot you know what the result is gonna be. When I’m not in New York in my offseason I get up shots not just layups all day. I make 10 in a row sometimes even 20 in a row but that’s after I get done running and shooting. It’s a big difference than just doing layups and also let’s face the fact usually it takes maybe 11-16 (times up and down the court) before I touch the ball. I’m not complaining about it. I expected it for what it is.”
On his role bringing energy off the bench:
“That’s like my job. That’s my job on this team. Bring energy off the bench. That’s what I try to do every night when I play. So continue to do that.”
On rejecting the idea of shooting underhand free throws:
“Nah. I feel like that’s silly as hell.”
Jalen Brunson
On the need for accountability and sticking together:
“We have a goal in mind. We’re striving every day for that goal. There’s gonna be days where we take steps back. There’s gonna be days where we take steps forward. It’s all about how we trust each other and stick with each other. I know that sounds like a bunch of BS but it’s important for us to stick together.”
On closing the Raptors game with defense:
“It started with stops. I think it’s always big-time when you hold a team to 100 points, especially a team like that that plays so fast, gets downhill and creates opportunities for each other. They’ve been playing great all year, and in that fourth quarter, we found a way to string some stops together.”
On the late-game defensive push:
“We got stops. We were able to run late. We were trying to get as many easy baskets as much as possible. Made a couple key shots as well. But it really started with our defense.”
On piecing things together heading into the playoffs:
“There may be times during a game when things aren’t going our way but we find a way to put the pieces together at the right time. So we just have to continue to do that.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On the team’s defensive ceiling:
“I mean, when our team is rolling and playing at a level defensively I know we can play at, we’re pretty damn good. We need to be that if we expect to have a chance to have a deep playoff run. Obviously every round is a challenge in itself and you don’t want to count your ducks too far ahead and count your eggs, but for us to be the best version of ourselves, it’s going to have to happen on that end of the basketball.”
On the Knicks’ defensive standard this season:
“I mean, when our team is rolling and playing at a level I know we can play at we’re pretty damn good. … We’ve been No. 1 [defensively]. That’s what we need. We need to be that if we expect to have a chance to have a deep playoff round. Obviously, every round is a challenge in itself and you don’t want to count your ducks too far ahead and count your eggs, but for us to be the best version of ourselves it’s going to have to happen on that end of the basketball.”
Josh Hart
On facing the Thunder on a back-to-back:
“Obviously, each game you want to build and learn. And we know that some games are tougher than others in terms of travel, back-to-back, things like that. [Wednesday] is going to be tough, a back to back playing a great team. But we’ve got to make sure we bring it, find where we can build off of and keep it moving. We let you guys [in the media] kind of argue and converse about the record and the teams.”
On defense fueling offense on Tuesday:
“We look at our defense spurring our offense. So games like this where we have little spurts of not scoring the ball we have to make sure we lock in and focus on creating easy opportunities, not letting them score, but getting our offense off our defense. I think we’ve done a good job with that.”
On his shooting slump and fluctuating confidence:
“The frustrating thing for me [is I’m] in a slump. The confidence is coming and going.”
On adjusting when shots aren’t falling:
“I ain’t make a damn thing, so I gotta do something else. That’s all I’m thinking about. … I’m putting the work in; I gotta make sure I play my game, shoot my shots with confidence and those kinds of things. But if you can’t hit the side of a barn, you gotta do something different. Wemby’s in a deep drop against me, I gotta make sure I have the opportunity to get guys wide-open shots on some of those handoffs, pitch backs, stuff like that.”
On his recent rough stretch from deep:
“Shooting, it was probably, obviously, one of my worst games of the season, worst three– or four-game stint.”
Mikal Bridges
On building habits during the regular season:
“Yeah, regular season means a lot. You build habits. That’s the biggest thing. You build habits an more time to learn to play off of each other. And to not let people think, let it be second nature when we’re out there. So that’s why we’ve got 82 games. Not going to get it Game one. You might not get it Game 40. Just continue to keep growing and bring that into the playoffs.”
David Fizdale
On regretting not fighting the tanking directive supposedly imposed on him:
“If I was doing it over again, I would’ve fought more to build a team early on and not cash in my record. That’s the hard part for coaches when you agree to the tanking.”
On missing out on star free agents and having to do with Bobby Portis and Julius Randle:
“That s–t didn’t work out.”
On the toll of losing in New York:
“Losing all those damn games. Donating my record.”
