Most important day of the Knicks season is here, fellas.
As will be the case again on Thursday, Saturday, and all the way every other day through mid-June.
Feels good.
Mike Brown
On the Cavaliers’ four All-Stars:
“Back in the day, when I was with (Gregg Popovich), he said, ‘You need three All-Stars to win a championship.’ Well, they’ve got four, James being the fourth one has added a dimension to their team that not many teams have. Not
many teams can say, ‘Hey, we got four All-Stars on our roster.’ And that fourth guy in James is a playmaker and a scorer, so he presents a problem when you have that, and Donovan Mitchell and everybody else, and then they have the shooting.
“It’s a different team, and [Harden] makes it different because of the experience that he has, especially in the playoffs and in big moments. And being a Hall of Fame-caliber player.”
On the need for setting the tone early in Game 1:
“You always want to hit first, second, third and obviously last. Trying to do that is gonna be big. We’ve talked about it before with the starts of our games. Our guys have done a better job in the playoffs.”
On managing rest vs. rust heading into the series:
“You worry about all those things. But at the end of the day, we’ve had a chance to rest, too; and they’ve had to play 14 games in 29, 30 days. So it could go either way. You just hope that when we step out there, our competitive spirit is at an extremely high level and you don’t ease into the game at all, because they’re a dangerous offensive team. They’re very potent with their shooters and playmakers. And they have size and toughness and all that. So there’s a lot of things to worry about. But that’s why it’s good that you’ve got to go play the games.”
On making Cleveland’s stars work defensively:
“We have to put pressure on them in all phases: starting with transition and ending with the ability to offensive rebound. You want to make all of their guys, especially guys who play-make and do a lot for them — you want to make them work as much as you can, but that’s not gonna be our focal point. The focal point is to take the best possible shot that we can get because it’s hard to score in the playoffs. But we do want to make those guys work, starting with transition. So we have to be conscious of trying to play the right way against this group.”
On facing Kenny Atkinson in the conference finals:
“We know each other well from our time in Golden State together. He’s a great person and obviously a really good coach.
“We probably gained more knowledge of how we’re coaching our teams based on the times we played against each other this year more than in the past.
“Kenny’s done a phenomenal job. He’s got those guys playing at a high level. To sit back and watch those guys take both their series to seven games and find the resiliency to win just shows how experienced that team is when it comes to the playoffs. There’s no panic in them, starting with Kenny on down.
Josh Hart
On New York City’s choices:
“Did they put street signs up this year?”
On internal expectations entering the series:
“For us, in that locker room, we’re just locked-in on being there every single game, making sure we’re continuing to get better and we’re a finished product at the end. So I don’t know anything about the bar being raised or expectations or anything like that. The expectations that we have for ourselves as a team or individual are always high. But we always want the fans to have some fun, man.”
On lessons from last year’s playoff collapse:
“Obviously in the playoffs you never want to give away games that you should win. You can never relax. Especially the style that the NBA is played now; you see 10-, 15-, 20-point leads dwindle in four, five minutes. So it’s just that mentality of, it’s never over. Play until there are zeros on the clock. You can’t give the games away.”
On the nine-day break before the conference finals:
“Obviously would rather not have a nine-day break. You’re in a good rhythm and then obviously you’ve got to sit there and wait and those kind of things. Ideally, a three- or four-day break, that’d be nice. It’s good points and bad points.”
On Madison Square Garden’s atmosphere:
“They always come out and show love. Definitely the best atmosphere in the league.”
On guarding Donovan Mitchell again after doing so in 2023:
“I don’t think I learned anything about myself. I’m a good player. I’m a good defender. And as a competitor, you want to have tough matchups like that to compete against the best. He’s an extremely talented offensive player. He takes tough shots, but he has the talent and the ability to make those tough shots.”
Jalen Brunson
On learning from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals loss:
“I mean, I’ve thought about it. But like every journey, every year is different. You’ve got to kind of restart and reset. Yes, you learn from it. You’re very disappointed in the result. But you move forward.
“I think it happened this year as well when we played Atlanta. We let our foot off the gas; even in Game 1, we won, but also in Game 2, we lost. So, it’s something that we need to continue to get better at. And I think we have. But we can’t be satisfied.”
On respecting Donovan Mitchell before the series:
“I have the utmost respect for him. Got to know him really since my first year, we had mutual friends. The dude works really hard, loves the game. I think he approaches it the right way, so I have a lot of respect for him.”
On Cleveland’s challenge in the conference finals:
“That’s a tough team, very well coached, a lot of guys over there with playoff experience. They’re going to be a tough out.”
On James Harden’s impact on Cleveland’s offense:
“He’s able to create a lot of offense for them. It’s like a pressure release for Donovan, as well. Donovan does so much for the team and then you have James in there and you have a whole other person you have to worry about, so they have so many different weapons, so many different options and ways they can beat you. They’re really dynamic.”
Kenny Atkinson (Cavs Head Coach)
On returning to Madison Square Garden for the conference finals:
“I’m a New Yorker. Going back to the Garden, I worked for the Knicks and I know everybody there. I have a ton of family, my whole family is there, basically. It’s special.”
On facing the Knicks in the conference finals:
“They’re rested and they’re a juggernaut right now. It’s hard to blow out teams in the playoffs like they’ve been blowing out teams. Point differential means something in this league.
“They’re playing great basketball, but we’ve got to try to go in there and steal Game 1 somehow.”
Carmelo Anthony
On believing the Knicks are the most complete team in the East:
“The Knicks is the most complete team in the East. All the s*** that people was talking about, and I kept telling y’all fans. Chill out. Relax. Stay Melo.”
On predicting a Finals appearance:
“I like the Knicks in the finals. This is the year that I think the Knicks get to the finals.”
Zohran Mamdani
On the rising ticket prices during the Knicks’ playoff run:
“We have seen sports become more and more of a luxury commodity, and that is not what it always used to be. I am still confident and hopeful of a championship this year. I do wish, however, that all of these tickets were far more affordably priced.”
“I think that there are many New Yorkers for whom the game is something that is celebrated across the entire city. When the Knicks do well, you feel it across this whole city. And it’s not just for those who can afford to go to the game.”
Alan Hahn
On the Knicks’ current level of play:
“I think this is the best I’ve ever seen them. I’ve been covering them for over 20 years in various ways. I’ve never seen them play an offense like this consistently. What they’ve done in the playoffs in this transformation with how they played, it’s remarkable. Of course, you need to see more proof of it as a series gets deeper. As you go deeper, it gets harder, right? But when in the playoffs do you see teams consistently blowing out their opponents in the first two rounds and not say that’s a championship-level team?”
On the Cleveland matchup compared to Detroit:
“That’s the one thing. It’s hard not to look at their struggles against Detroit and Detroit seems to just have a different kind of level against the Knicks. They really didn’t get over losing to the Knicks in the first round and you could see that in every game they played this year. They just had a different type of intensity, almost to a point where even the Knicks were like, ‘Whoa, whoa, it’s January. What are you guys doing?’ I would never say that Cleveland’s easier. But I think matchup-wise, it’s way more intriguing because it’s two really good offensive teams. So how do you solve them defensively is going to be the biggest story in this series.”
