If that was a Finals preview, I can only hope they started yesterday.
The Knicks played tough and gave OKC fits on Wednesday—with Mitch Robinson load-managing—and showed what they can do when they put on their competitive suit.
Here is the latest quoteboard.
Mike Brown
On liking the team’s competitive spirit vs. OKC:
“I liked our competitive spirit.
Those guys make the game ugly, and when that happens you’ve got to defend and do the little things to get the win.”
On Shai Gilgeous-Alexander selling contact:
“SGA, he’s a tough cover. He does a great job of convincing the referees, probably better than anyone in the league, that he’s getting hit.”
On the no-call involving Jalen Brunson:
“You guys saw the play. SGA had two fouls and Jalen was there, and he ran him over. Just like the call that they made on OG [Anunoby, later in the game]. I don’t understand why that was a no-call. But that should’ve been his third, the bucket shouldn’t have counted and we should’ve gone the other way with the basketball. So to see that, knowing that Jalen is standing there and he’s putting his body on the line, and our guys are fighting their asses off to try to win the ballgame, it didn’t sit well with me, obviously.”
On telling the team they’re good enough despite officiating:
“One of the things I wanted to get across to the guys is that we’re good enough to win despite whatever the officials are calling out on the floor. We need to have that mentality. Trying to leave the officials alone is something I pointedly tried to do. Tonight, SGA had two fouls and Jalen was there, and he ran him over. Just like the call they made on OG [Anunoby]. I don’t understand why that was a no-call. That should have been his third, the bucket shouldn’t have counted and we should have gone the other way with the basketball. To see that, knowing that Jalen is standing there and he’s putting his body on the line and our guys are fighting their asses off to try to win a ball game, it didn’t sit well with me.”
On OKC’s high-level defense and game plan:
“But their defense is a high-level defense. They generate a lot of points or opportunities off of the defense that they play. They all seem willing to sacrifice defensively — every one of those dudes will come over and take a charge, get ran over. So their interior defense is at a pretty high level. They all seem like they’re connected on a string, five guys on a string. When you get down into the paint, you’ve gotta play off of two feet. You gotta take care of the basketball. You can’t over-penetrate. You’ve gotta hit the offensive glass while being willing to spray it. And then the reality of it is, you gotta throw the kitchen sink at Shai. You can’t give him the same look the whole game. You gotta hope he misses some.”
On avoiding fouls and trending upward on defense:
“Our guys are trying to play defense without fouling, and they’re doing a pretty good job with it. We’re still going to get better in that area. It’s been a process. We made the switch defensively a couple of months ago, and that was a process. Our guys are pretty comfortable with what we’re doing right now, and they know exactly what they should be doing out there. Again, it didn’t happen with one practice. It didn’t happen because a switch got turned on. It just gradually happened. I’ve said this before, that’s what the regular season is for. You take this and take that and try to get a little better here and there, and then, hopefully, by the end of the season, you’re at a point where you’re fairly comfortable and can start trending upward.”
On protecting the paint and crashing the glass vs. top teams:
“Anybody — and I can’t say this cause I can’t think about just the games against the top teams—but you wanna have a physical presence without fouling against anybody you play. It starts there. And then the only way to protect the paint is if you have five guys on a string. Guys have to be on a shift. If the balls moves, everybody has to move, and you’ve gotta communicate and then you’ve gotta go finish the play by boxing out. So that’s one of the things we’ve been doing well. Another thing is trying to hit the paint, play off of two feet, make sure the floor is spaced properly and then spray if you have an opportunity. We have guys who are crashing — not most times but all the time — because being relentless on the offensive glass can help you win a ball game.”
On Jose Alvarado’s impact after 10 games:
“He’s been good. The quickness is irreplaceable. It gives us a different look. That was something that prior to him getting here, especially us wanting to play fast and all that, having another guy, especially that is that quick or maybe is different in a way that kind of stands out — I don’t know what that way would be — but Jose was available and I gotta give Leon [Rose] credit. He went out and got him.”
On Alvarado helping on both ends:
“It’s helped us on both ends of the floor because he’s different than Jalen, he’s a veteran so he’s been in some big games, he knows the league, the league knows him. The energy on top of the quickness that he brings to the table every time we step on the floor is irreplaceable. At least the guys that we had, or the guys that we have, it’s just different. I’ve been pleased with him.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On making defensive adjustments on the fly:
“It’s been great to see our team on the court making adjustments for ourselves on the fly. It’s been working out really well for us on the defensive end. We’ve been challenging ourselves to be a better defensive team because we know that is what it’s going to take to win playoff series. It did last year. It wasn’t the offense, it was the Mikal Bridges steal in Boston in Game 1 and 2. It was the big rebounds in Detroit. Those are the types of things that gave us a chance to win. The offense gave us a chance to win, but the defense won us the game.”
On being proud of the fight vs. OKC:
“I’m proud of our guys. We fought, and we did our best to execute against a championship team. Tip a cap to them. They did enough to win the game.”
On fouling out once again on Wednesday:
“It’s obviously frustrating. You want to win the game and you want to be out there with your teammates. It’s unfortunate.”
On dominating the boards vs. OKC without Mitchell Robinson:
“Every game, I try to assert myself and utilize my size. My knack of rebounding comes from my father. I just want to impact winning…and be a star in my role. With Mitch out, it’s even more important that I dominate the boards because that’s what he does…to try to fill his shoes and rebound at a high level like that, I knew it was going to be needed if we had a chance tonight.”
On embracing his role offensively:
“Just trying to be the best player I can be in my role. Be a star in my role, focusing every day on doing that and impacting winning.”
On the team’s current position in the standings with 20 games left:
“I think we’re in a good spot, especially when we got 20 more games left. For us to compete the way we did, be in the game the way we worked… we’re still a work in progress. We’re getting close to that time where we need to be the best version of ourselves and I see us getting better. And that’s the most important thing right now.”
On defense being the key again this postseason:
“It’s been great to see our team make adjustments on the fly and it’s been working for us on the defensive end and challenging ourselves to be a better defensive team because we know that’s what it’s going to take to win playoff series. The offense gave us a chance to win [those games last year], defense won the game.”
Jalen Brunson
On converting defensive work into wins:
“It’s put us on a good trend, and we have to continue on that way. It’s what we work on and something we’ve been stressing and something that’s been showing when the lights are on. Obviously, when we’re behind closed doors, we’re working at it and talking through everything. We just got to convert it into wins.”
On backing Mike Brown after he earned his first technical of the season:
“I’m going to have his back every single night. He has ours. Regardless what he does or techs he gets, I’m going to have his back.”
On his missed game-tying three:
“Just missed it. Wish I could have that one back.”
On his shooting struggles vs. OKC:
“I feel like I missed a lot of shots I normally make.”
Josh Hart
On adjusting to fewer minutes this season compared to last year:
“That’s what he feels is best. If that’s what he sees fit, that’s what he sees fit.”
On the adjustment to a reduced workload:
“It takes a little bit of an adjustment. I think it also depends on how I’m playing. Games last year, the year before, if there was an 82-game season, you’re bound to have bad games. I think some of those bad games, I shouldn’t [have] played as much. You could’ve went to Landry [Shamet], or more minutes for Cam [Payne], something like that. So this year, it takes a little bit getting used to but you’ve got guys like Landry playing extremely well this season, obviously Deuce [McBride] was playing well before he got hurt, we’ve got Jose [Alvarado]. I’m cool with it. As long as we win, I’m cool with it.”
