The Cavaliers beat the Knicks on Saturday, adding another win to their analytical spreadsheet.
Cleveland remains undefeated on that front, while New York keeps stacking dubs on the court.
Here’s some of the (very little) latest.
Mike Brown
On giving Landry Shamet more leeway than younger reserves and keeping bench minutes competitive:
“Obviously, you looking at a guy like Landry, he may have a little bit more leash than Pac [Dadiet]. Landry’s as close to being a starter as you can imagine for us. Everybody else, they have to play and even the starters and Landry, they do, too.”
On Landry Shamet’s standing in the Knicks’ rotation:
“About as close to being a starter as you can imagine for us.”
On choosing Tyler Kolek over Jose Alvarado as the backup point guard:
“But you know, Jose had the first opportunity [against the Nets) and then I gave Tyler an opportunity in the second half and Tyler played well. So I go with Tyler and if I feel I need to make a change, Tyler’s not getting it done in my eyes, I’ll go back to Jose.”
On Josh Hart’s ability to contribute without having plays called for him:
“Josh is a connector. I don’t think we call a single play for him at any time, he just goes and gets it done.
“He rebounds. Our pick and roll defense has been bad, and he’s helped clean it up at times by putting him on the ball. So his versatility defensively is a bonus for us. So he’s definitely going to be missed.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On facing Cleveland again after defeating the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals:
“I mean, they’re a great team. We saw them in the Eastern Conference finals. Obviously, they have another year under their belt with each other, more experience. And we saw what experience does for teams, especially like us.”
Tyler Kolek
On acknowledging that he underestimated Taylor Swift’s history as a Knicks fan:
“Obviously with everything (going on), people have been going back and sending me all the stuff about her going to the games. And she was actually wearing a 13 jersey (in one picture). Probably Joakim Noah back in the day with Carmelo (Anthony). So, I wasn’t up to date on my Taylor Swift Knicks fandom, so that’s on me.”
On the reaction to his comments about Taylor Swift and admitting he answered the question poorly:
“(The video) was everywhere. Everybody saw it. But it is what it is. For me, it’s just a question that was asked to me that maybe I answered in the wrong way. I take that on the chin. But I love her music. We were just playing it five minutes ago and I’m singing every word to every song. Nothing against her at all.”
On being a Taylor Swift fan despite questioning her Knicks fandom:
“I love her music. I probably know more songs than anybody else in the locker room. I just misspoke.”
Landry Shamet
On returning to Cleveland and remembering the Knicks’ championship run:
“It’s human nature, you’re gonna revert back and think back to the last time you were in the building. I had a quick little firing of that walking in for shootaround, but I think the general sense was that was last year. That was great. You can have those memories and hang on to that as long as we want, but ultimately this year is a new year and a new endeavor.”
On the benefits of roster continuity and familiarity with Mike Brown:
“The biggest thing is just being comfortable with the guys on the floor, second year with [head coach] Mike [Brown]. I think that just breeds confidence. Familiarity breeds confidence. There’s no denying that. It allows you to get to the point of conversations quicker. It makes for a good formula to find success.”
On comparing his unpredictable Knicks role to that of a baseball relief pitcher:
“Especially with [my] role, I think I take a lot from my buddy Ashby, bullpen guy, you don’t know when you’re gonna get thrown in, what the situation’s gonna be. My job might look a little different from night to night. If I’m changing my approach every night, that’s not setting myself up for a good situation.
“I think in the past in my career when I was younger I would try to overcomplicate things and think I have to reinvent the wheel. I try to just keep it as simple as possible, reduce it down to my job, my impact and just play my game.”
Donovan Mitchell
On Cleveland’s Saturday loss to the Knicks:
“No excuse. These are games that we feel like we should win. We got another tough stretch coming up so there’s no reason to sit here and feel bad and nothing’s won in the first 10 games.”
On what went wrong for the Cavaliers:
“I think we just gave them too many second-chance opportunities. Then it’s too late, you’re down 20 trying to fight back, but it’s too late.”
Peyton Watson
On the Cavaliers failing to match the Knicks’ intensity:
“Got to bring your A game and we just didn’t do that tonight.”
Kenny Atkinson
On Cleveland continuing to compete despite trailing New York by 18 points:
“We could have folded down 18, could have packed it in on a back-to-back, tough week, but we kept at it.”
On acknowledging that the Knicks dominated the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals and then won the championship:
“They dominated it, and they did it again against San Antonio [in the Finals]. Analytically … there’s an ‘expected score,’ and we’ve won two out of the three games.
“I think when you look back on it and take the context of the question, I’m not sure that was taken into account, which I know was a little bit of a lesson for me — like, you can just take a sound bite (and run with it).
“I would just say there was no coach more complimentary of the Knicks and honest about our performance and how they dominated us. So you live and learn a little bit with those things. But like I said, 99 percent of my comments were how they dominated us. They were by far the better team. I answered the question, as it was taken, (which was) ‘And you’re down 3-0, what hope do you have of even giving to your guys?’
“We get a lot of information … and I wasn’t lying in that sense, but in no sense was it like, ‘Oh, man, we deserve to be winning.’ Like zero — zero — thought of that.”
On why analytics could not outweigh the Knicks’ physical and mental dominance:
“We get information that checks our process. All that being said, we were still dominated. It kind of doesn’t matter (what the analytics say) because there is more than that. There is the mental toughness, the physical toughness, the flow to the game, how aggressive you are. There are all these other intangibles that go with that.”
On recognizing that the Knicks earned their championship:
“They deserved it, and they did it again against San Antonio. Just an incredible, incredible run.”
