The Sixers beat the Knicks on Friday…
…meaning they are 2-0 in the head-to-head matchup. That’s it, that’s all it means. No parade down Broad Street.
Here’s what we heard coming out of Cheesesteak Arena.
Mike Brown
On losing to the 76ers in the NBA Cup:
“I don’t look it as a statement game. It’s the next game in front of us. Obviously, it’s a [NBA] Cup game and you always want to push yourself to have an opportunity to try and win something. This means taking a step toward that goal.
“But I just want to get a little better every time we play. These guys really hurt us in transition last game. Our transition defense right now stinks. But it’s gotten a little better. Tonight, it will be tested. Obviously Jaylen is not playing and he’s one of the best in transition. You look at little things and you hope to get better at the little things while getting a win.”
On the Knicks allowing Philadelphia to attack the paint too easily:
“They were getting in our paint left and right, right and left, and it was really, really easy doing it.”
On the Knicks forcing difficult plays instead of executing simple offense:
“It’s been going on all year. Like, we’re trying to hit a home run every time we get the ball. And we have to hit singles. We can’t hit a home run. We gotta hit singles offensively and then if our play breaks down, we have to move. There’s too many times where we have too many guys trying to iso and the other four guys sitting there and staring at the ball a whole possession.”
On the Knicks improving their turnover management in the second half:
“We did a better job with our turnovers (in the second half). But more importantly, we reacted better when we turned the ball over and we had five turnovers for six points (against).”
On the Knicks failing to maintain their focus throughout an entire game:
“Against a good team on the road, if you let go of those things in a half, you’re in trouble. And so somehow some way we have to be cognizant of doing this stuff for 48 minutes, which we’re not doing right now.
“Tonight it was the first half and it was almost like [we thought] we’re just gonna show up and go hoop and not do the little things that we need to do to go get a win.”
On the importance of executing the fundamentals consistently:
“It’s a little thing here, a little thing there, a little thing there. … We’re competitive when we need to be and that’s why all of our games that we’re in we have a chance down the stretch, but trying to make sure we continue to do the little things throughout the course of the game is gonna be huge for us because we’re not doing it right now.”
On LeBron James making decisive plays against the Knicks:
“[LeBron’s] a great player, and when you have a great player out there, with his ability, he’s gonna make plays, and he made big plays down the stretch. It’s the NBA, and it’s not surprising when a guy like Maxey or LeBron or Jalen makes a big play. You just hope that it doesn’t come down to that all the time.”
On Ernie Johnson’s retirement announcement and his impact on NBA coverage:
“I’d like to give a quick shoutout to Ernie Johnson. I don’t know him well. Obviously I know him from the TV. I try not to watch a lot of basketball shows because it gets me too high or gets me too low. But their show is one that I always get good laughs at.
“Just from afar, Ernie seems like he’s a big time human being. And the little bit I know about his story, it’s fascinating. He will be sorely missed, not only from the fans out there and other media members, but I know from a coaching standpoint too in keeping everything light and enjoyable and all that other stuff.
“So I hope you have a heck of a year, Ernie. We’re gonna all miss you, but thanks for doing what you do to make people smile everyday.”
Jalen Brunson
On the Knicks’ careless turnovers and hesitant decision-making:
“Just a little careless. And sometimes it can be us being hesitant as well, wanting to make the right play, but they’re also not trying to turn over, and then it’s just a little late to our decision-making. It could be a lot of things, but obviously, we got to clean it up.”
On Josh Hart’s fatigue excuse six games into the season:
“Josh said he feels the fatigue? Well, Josh is old as s–t, so.”
On the Knicks needing to learn from their losses and stop relying on comebacks:
“I’ve said in the past that it’s always important to learn from wins. Obviously, you learn from losses, as well. There have been plenty of times that we’ve learned from being down. In those same games, we’ve made adjustments to where we weren’t down anymore and came back and won the game. Obviously, we have to understand what we need to do. It’s starting the game that way. I think that has to be our biggest point of emphasis going forward.
“I thought we played decent in the second half, took care of the ball better, played better defense, but we have to put a full 48 minutes together.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On the Knicks lacking energy against Philadelphia:
“Today we played like a team that was on the end of a road trip. We gotta find that gear. We gotta find that energy.
“We picked up the pace in the second half, but what makes this team special is doing it for 48 minutes. We didn’t do that tonight. We put ourselves in a bad spot, and give credit to the team over there. They hit the shots when they needed to. We just got to execute at a higher level.”
On escaping the Knicks’ offensive struggles too late against the 76ers:
“I thought we did a great job in that fourth quarter of finding that gear, like you said, just kind of getting out of the quicksand. To do that puts us in a position where you gotta make some magic happen, and we just didn’t have enough magic tonight.”
On the challenge of facing LeBron James and the 76ers:
“They’re a great team. Obviously, you have arguably the greatest player of all time. We’ve got to bring our best. We’ve got to execute at a high level. And we’ve got to continue to use these games as a learning experience.”
Josh Hart
On the Knicks’ stagnant offense and lack of movement:
“It’s a new year. I think we’re trying to work our way into the season. But I think the flow’s tougher. Sometimes the ball is stagnant, I think that’s a little bit from fatigue and not a mental thing. You know what the other team is doing, and physically you’re trying to get your body to get to that point. So I think that that’s part of it. We got to be more deliberate with cuts and movements. And taking care of the ball.”
On the Knicks feeling fatigued after playing three games in four nights:
“We all feel the fatigue. So we got to fight through it. Six games in. So we got to find a way to make sure we get our bodies ready to play every day. I think mentally we’re there. We just gotta find it physically.”
On the Knicks needing to execute more consistently:
“We gotta find a way to execute better. And do that continuously.”
On why the Knicks keep falling behind by double digits before attempting comebacks:
“I wish I could tell you that one. If I could tell you that one, and the reason why, then maybe it would stop happening. I think we all have a great will to win. I think sometimes it takes us a little longer to find a game, whether that’s the flow, fatigue, whatever it is.
“We have to do a better job of finding the game early, making it easy and then not relying on double-digit comebacks because it’s taxing.”
Nick Nurse
On LeBron James’ performance against the Knicks:
“He’s been good, but tonight, I thought that was his best game for sure. I thought he was good all the way through tonight. I thought he got some downhill stuff. He used his size and knocked them around a little bit for some layups. I thought he obviously pushed the ball and got us organized. I thought he was a little quicker to make some decisions to shoot the 3-ball as well. And then, he obviously made those couple of big plays down the stretch.”
Amar’e Stoudemire
On how New York’s off-court opportunities can distract players after winning a championship:
“When you win a championship, especially in New York, you have all these different opportunities off the court that take place. You’re filming commercials, you’re having these different shows, you’re doing these different things. All these events are happening.
“You’ve got to try to narrow it back down and lock in on basketball because playing in New York, you can get a little bit taken away from the sport with all the activities that go along with being in New York City. But you have to now try to narrow it down back to basketball. Key in, lock in on basketball. Make it the main priority and build out from there.”
On why the Knicks deserved to celebrate their championship throughout the offseason:
“That’s normal. That’s a part of human nature, man. You win a championship for the New York Knicks. You kidding me? After 53 years, you gotta enjoy that. You will never be the first one to win it after 53 years ever again.
“So that energy, you have to capitalize on it. It’s just a matter of now being able to kind of channel that and now focus on basketball and lock in a little bit more.”
On whether the Knicks’ slow start is concerning:
“I’m not concerned. When you are the champions, man, every target is at your back. Every team’s gunning for you, so it’s tough to kind of get off to a great start the following year. I’m not concerned. I think it’s a matter of just kind of locking in and focusing a little bit more, and they’ll be okay.”
