The only team collapsing bigger-time than the Knicks on Tuesday’s second half are the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Sheesh.
Anyway, now New York basketball today as the Knickerbockers get ready to play the undeafted
(no type) Bulls in back-to-back games scheduled for Friday and Sunday.
Here’s some of the stuff we’ve heard during the past few hours.
Mike Brown
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ first-half performance vs. Milwaukee:
“[KAT’s] first half was beautiful. He played the right way. And that’s all you can ask your All-Star guys to do. If you’ve got an All-Star, and they’re taking him out with a second guy [double team], believe in your teammates, believe in the process. When those guys make plays, eventually they won’t double as much, and you’ll get it back.”
On Towns’ early production vs. the Bucks:
“I thought the first half, KAT was the one that got us started. KAT’s first couple plays, he caught that thing, made a quick decision. He touched the paint — what did he do? He started the dominoes. He sprayed the ball and got guys wide-open looks. Or those guys, whoever caught it, snap drove. They touched the paint, they scored it or sprayed it. It all started with KAT. KAT played a remarkable first half offensively. Sometimes it doesn’t show up in your field-goal attempts when you play a remarkable game. He had one field-goal attempt because that’s the way they were playing him. When he touched it, he drew two and then kicked it.”
On Towns’ scoring rhythm and ball movement:
“We want the ball to move. We want the floor spaced the right way. And I promise you, if we do the things we’re talking about offensively — the staples — KAT’s gonna be more than fine. But we’ve all gotta play with more pace. I’ve talked to KAT about it. If you don’t play with pace in certain areas, you’ll get denied, pushed out, and now you’re catching it way out on the floor.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On adapting to his new role with the Knicks:
“I’ve got a new role. I just have to embrace it, and I didn’t do that for 48 minutes tonight. It hurts. It’s gonna be a tough car ride. It’s gonna be a tough two days to live with that, but I’ve had tough days before. Just mark this up into the same category. But it’s only Game 4.”
On learning Mike Brown’s offensive system:
“[It’s a] different system than we all have played recently, so we’re all finding our spots and finding where we can be the most effective. I’m learning — even at 11 years, I’m learning something new. You can teach an old dog new tricks, and I’m learning new tricks.”
On the need for playing with trust and avoiding overdoing it:
“We all want to win. We’re just doing things to help each other win. That’s what got us to where we were last year. That mindset has done us well. It’s just today, sometimes when you’re trying to win, you start doing too much, and I take responsibility. I thought I did a little too much midway through the third. I was trying too hard to win the game. I just have to have that belief, that trust that things will work out — and I didn’t do my part. I’ve gotta live with that.”
On the growing pains and feeling pressure in New York:
“I got a new role. I just have to embrace it and I didn’t do that for 48 minutes tonight. It hurts. It’s going to be a tough car ride. It’s going to be a tough two days to live with that, but I’ve had tough days before. Just mark this up into the same category. But it’s Game Four. I know everyone’s going to be stressing in New York, the way we talk, New York everything. We’ve got to learn, I got to learn. I’ve got to be better.”
Jalen Brunson
On the Knicks’ second-half collapse vs. Milwaukee:
“First off, you have to give them credit. Yeah, we had it tied but we weren’t playing the style of basketball that we should have been playing in the second half. Kept it close enough until the six-minute mark and the way we were playing crept up on us and then it got out of hand. I think we got complacent a little bit, myself included. Just got to keep the foot on the gas, keep playing the right way. We can’t lose our aggressiveness in the way that we were playing. We were really fluid out there, we were just making plays for each other and we had a lot of great shots and everything was tough in the second half.”
On the need for keeping teammates involved offensively:
“It is on us to make sure everyone is eating, everyone’s feeding off of each other.”
Phil Jackson
On the relationship with Carmelo Anthony forcing him to leave the Knicks:
“Dolan said to me, ‘Are you going to get run out of town by the media?’ I said, ‘I know who the media is; that doesn’t affect me.’ But Dolan felt it was too much. He said, ‘I don’t want you to go through it. I know what it’s like to deal with these people.’ I said, ‘Unfortunately, my relationship with Carmelo is kind of busted, and if he’s going to be here, it’s probably best that I go.’”
On the decision to trade Carmelo Anthony:
“I had this meeting with Dolan, I said, ‘I don’t want Carmelo back on the team; we’ve got to find a way to trade him.’ I said, ‘Let’s sit with [Anthony’s agent] Leon Rose and explain we’re not going to win a championship. Carmelo wants a championship; he wants to be on a team that has a chance, and he should be; he’s a Hall of Famer.’”
On Carmelo Anthony’s approach in Denver:
“[Karl said] ‘Kobe’s going to get his 30 points and we’ll deal with that; shut down everybody else.’ Carmelo interjected, ‘No, I disagree with that. We’ve got to defend Kobe first. We’ve got to throw everything at him.’ You know why? [Carmelo] said he wanted to be the top scorer.”
On his Knicks draft picks and coaching hires:
“Kristaps Porzingis — a good draft pick, but his brother was in the way all the time. Frank Ntilikina — the NBA game turned out not to be for him. I thought he’d be great in a two-guard system, 6–4, agile, but he could never shoot. Hiring Derek Fisher as head coach was a mistake because he wasn’t ready to coach.”
Carmelo Anthony
On his departure from New York:
“When I left New York, I didn’t leave New York. I got pushed out of New York. Phil pushed me out of New York. I struggled to leave New York.”
Stephon Marbury
On Giannis Antetokounmpo possibly joining the Knicks:
“I think we’re set. I think we have enough to win the championship. Our style of play fits for the guys that are playing our style to play… He’s not a great 3-point shooter… And we… shoot threes, a lot of threes.”
Kendrick Perkins
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ slow start to the season:
“Karl-Anthony Towns, when is it gonna stop? Seriously, I’m expecting better from you. I’m expecting better from you at this time right now. What I’m seeing right now: you got a coaching change, right? Obviously, you didn’t want Thibs because you didn’t want Thibs in Minnesota. So, they bring in Mike Brown. You’re still picking up those dumb, silly fouls. Mike Brown said that he’s been talking to you about this — something that you should be trying to work to get better at. Those fouls come from a lack of effort in not wanting to move those puppies. I thought that you could have come into the season in better shape, but you didn’t. That’s a problem. We’re talking about with the East being wide open. The Knicks added to their bench. They’re pretty much everyone’s favorite to represent the Eastern Conference. He has to be better.”
