The Knicks decided to drop the first leg of a back-to-back affair so they can beat the 76ers nicely today.
What did you expect?
Here’s the latest from the protagonists of Friday’s disaster.
Mike Brown
On the Knicks failing to defend when shots weren’t falling:
“The shot’s not falling, where else are we gonna hang our hat? And it has to be on the defensive end of the floor, and we didn’t get it done throughout most of the game tonight. And that’s why we ended up losing, at the end of the day.”
On playing the right way regardless of who is available:
“It doesn’t matter how many guys are in uniform or who’s in uniform. We gotta go play the right way. Sometimes, if you play the right way, you’re gonna take a loss and you’re OK with it.”
On missing Mitchell Robinson:
“He is a force, and shoot, we’d rather have him than not. When we do, he definitely protects us on the back side in a lot of different ways.”
On being booed and his internal frustration with the team’s effort:
“It’s not a reality check. It’s how we played. It’s how I feel myself. Inside, I’m like, ‘Boo. Mike, you stink.’ They have a right to boo me and everybody else. Especially if we’re playing the way we were playing, starting with guarding the ball and not getting back in transition. It’s tough to stomach because you’re not giving yourself a chance.”
On his belief in the roster despite the loss:
“At the end of the day, I truly believe the guys that we have on this roster are more than capable. I’m going to keep pushing. No matter who’s in uniform, I’m going to keep pushing them to play better because I believe in them. I feel they believe in each other, too, and what we’re doing.”
On the grind of the season:
“The reality of it is it’s a long season. And everybody is human, just like you are with your job, our guys are human just like you are with your job. It’s my job to try to push our guys to be perfect. I know it’s not going to happen, but I’m going to try as best I can to push them that way. It’s human nature when you have success you tend to let down a little bit. If you give them a glimpse of hope they’re going to take advantage of it because they are professionals, they are the best out there.”
On Kevin McCullar Jr.’s impact:
“He’s tough. He does all the little things that don’t show up in the boxscore all the time. His shifts are really good. His physicality without fouling is really good. He can rebound, he understands how to play different individuals, how to close out, how to take away air space. Just a good feel for a lot of little things along with that toughness.”
On Ariel Hukporti stepping up:
“Mitch has been great for us. It would have been great if he was available, but he wasn’t. So the next guy has to step up, and Ariel ended up playing 28 minutes and he did a pretty good job out there. He had 17 rebounds, and that’s what you want from that center position.”
On Miles McBride’s defensive value and offensive versatility:
“He’s just, he’s a baller, man. Defensively, he’s really good, he can get up into the ball. When it comes to defending the ball in pick-and-roll action, Deuce, he’ll get to the ball and get over the top of that pick-and-roll with the ball. He helps nullify our opponent’s pick-and-roll game. You leave him open, he’s probably gonna make it. If you close out too hard, he’s got a chance to go by you and get to his middy or spray it. He’s a baller, and it doesn’t surprise me that his net rating is high.”
On interpreting net rating cautiously:
“I look at net rating, but at the end of the day I don’t put a ton of stock into it because it can be a combination of a lot of different things. Obviously, you’d like to have everybody with a tremendously high net rating, that means you’ll probably win a lot of games.”
On defensive inconsistency catching up to the team:
“I truly believe that the guys care and they want to try and do the right thing. We just haven’t done it. We gotta go do it. We have to sustain whatever we’re trying to do defensively for 48 minutes.”
On lapses in defensive focus:
“If we’re up, we’re like, ‘OK, we’re good.’ And we have three or four just bad defensive plays in a row. It’s stuff like that that’s in our control that we don’t control.”
On second-chance points hurting the Knicks:
“They had 11 offensive rebounds. Our multiple effort was not good. They got the rebound and then we didn’t fly around after that, and that gave them an advantage on second-chance points.”
Mikal Bridges
On the need for steady defensive effort despite missed shots:
“I think just lack of energy defensively. I know we weren’t making shots, but that doesn’t leave an excuse to not play defense and get back. We can’t let missing shots affect us on the other end.”
On accountability despite injuries:
“There’s no excuse, we’ve just got to be better. Obviously we’re missing three key guys, but we’ve got everybody else in this locker room to come in and step up.”
Miles McBride
On reality setting in after the loss:
“It’s great when you win and you can still fix things, but a loss really sets you back to reality. And it definitely did for us tonight.”
On failing to rebound without Robinson and Hart:
“They killed us on the offensive glass. That’s an effort thing and we gotta fix that.”
Jalen Brunson
On the Knicks’ lack of focus and urgency against Atlanta:
“Not gonna lie, we just didn’t have it tonight. I know that’s a terrible, lame-ass excuse, but we let shotmaking affect our overall gameplay. That includes our pace, our sense of urgency. Just wasn’t our style of basketball today and it’s unacceptable.”
On the late fourth-quarter push coming too late:
“It was too late by that point. We have to have that sense of urgency throughout the game. Can’t let it get to that point.”
On shot-making affecting the team’s overall play:
“We just didn’t have it tonight. I know that’s a terrible, lame-ass excuse, but we let shot-making affect our overall gameplay. That includes our pace, sense of urgency, everything. Just wasn’t our solid basketball today.”
