The Knicks decided it was better to finish 2025 on a losing note, so karma balances out in 2026 and they can win the championship.
One step backwards, two steps forward.
Here’s some old stuff from last year.
Mike Brown
On
Landry Shamet’s defensive value and skill set:
“Shamet and McBride are our best on-ball defenders. Now Kevin, I haven’t seen a ton of him, but he may be in that mix, too. But they’re our best on-ball defenders when it comes to ball screens. Their technique is extremely high level. Landry is tough, he’s smart. On the defensive end of the floor, he’s going to try to do every little detail at the highest level of efficiency he can. With a competitive spirit defensively. And then offensively, man he runs. He puts a lot of pressure on the defense. He’s shooting 42.4 percent from the 3-point line.”
On being outworked by the Spurs:
“They just, s–t, excuse my French, but they just outworked us in a lot of ways. Mitch Johnson kicked my ass. The rest of the team kicked our ass. We all got our ass kicked today.”
On the Knicks’ defensive issues and physicality:
“First of all, it’s our physicality wasn’t good. We haven’t figured out how to be physical for 48 minutes in the last I don’t know how many games. And doing it without fouling. We pick up some silly fouls that we have to do a better job of. I feel everybody understands that. But now we have to go do it. Our physicality isn’t good. I don’t know if we’re tired or what, but we haven’t been able to sustain anything defensively for 48 minutes. And we’ve won a lot of games, and you want to win games and feel good about it. But at the end of the day, if we don’t figure out how to sustain what we’re supposed to do on defense for 48 minutes, it’s going to be a long year for us and it’s going to catch up with us.”
On failing to defend Julian Champagnie:
“He shot the mess out the ball. I was a little disappointed in our guys because it was almost like we didn’t respect him. We didn’t pick him up in transition. He just kept getting look after look after look after look. Wide open. I was really disappointed in the way we defended him.”
On San Antonio’s motivation after the NBA Cup final:
“They know what happened in the cup, they’re going to play with a little extra edge. Especially they lost a couple here now lately.”
On free-throw disparity and fouling on Wednesday:
“40 free throw attempts, I know we fouled late in the game. They almost doubled us in free throw attempts the whole game. I don’t know, maybe we weren’t aggressive enough, I’m not sure. It’d be interesting to go back to look at the film to see why we couldn’t get to the free throw line but why they were getting to the free throw line. That’s a huge disadvantage if you’re talking about 20 to 40 from the free-throw line. It’s going to be tough if the free-throw disparity is that big.”
On having championship expectations with the Knicks:
“You come here you want to win. You look at a team on paper, you’re around the team a little bit. You’re like, ‘OK man, we legitimately have a chance to like win this whole thing.’ But in terms of my preparation with the team and all that, I mean, it’s all the same. We’re trying to friggin’ win and win at a high level. We have a chance here because of the roster, the guys on the roster and the coaches I have on my staff and Leon and Jim Dolan. We’ve got a chance.”
On the need for full-time defensive urgency:
“I think at times we think, ‘We’re good, we’re going to end up winning this, or we’re going to outscore them.’ And that’s not the mentality to have. There has to be a sense of urgency defensively for 48 minutes.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s absences and load management:
“It’s all load management. If you look at our schedule, it’s been hectic. We’re just trying to be smart with it.”
On Robinson’s upcoming availability:
“He’ll play one of those two games. I’m not sure which one yet.”
Landry Shamet
On how his shoulder injury felt compared to last time:
“Not quite like getting shot in the arm, a few steps down.”
On his rehab progress and avoiding surgery:
“We’re happy where things are at. You never really know. I had a lot of confidence in the rehab I did last year, and I was able to start doing things sooner in the rehab process than I kind of expected this time. So, if anything, that kind of just reassured the importance of rehabbing right and taking care of things. That’s really the biggest thing that gave me confidence. In the middle of it, though, there’s a lot of other stuff going on and you don’t really know until — you know, trust our doctors, talk to them and get all the information you need.”
On the Knicks’ support during his recovery:
“That’s great to know. No complaints with the organization, they’ve been great. The support staff and everybody involved, they’re committed, they’ve been great, and they’ve been working closely with me.”
On anticipating an adjustment period when he returns:
“Of course, even if you’re out for a week there’s some level of an adjustment period. You can’t replicate playing basketball. So even if it’s something as simple as your conditioning. However small or big of an adjustment there is, there will be some adjustments. It’s hard to tell right now what those will be. But I anticipate some. It would be naive to say there wouldn’t be any.”
On his current rehab status later in the week:
“Going well. Taking things a day at a time and getting better. Staying engaged here with the guys and trying to contribute as much as I can while still being out. And yeah, in a good spot, getting better. My intention was to rehab and get this thing right. And you make that decision, and there’s not a gray area or back-and-forth considerations beyond whatever you decide to do. So that was it, that’s where we’re at.”
Deuce McBride
On defensive pride:
“Sometimes it’s just about taking pride and getting stops. I feel like when the ball’s going in, even for me tonight, I’ve got to be better on the defensive end. I’ve got to get stops. I’m out there to get stops first, make shots, but I just think it’s about taking pride.”
On absorbing advice from Ray Allen early in his career:
“He probably didn’t realize I was going to lock in on whatever he was saying.”
On Allen’s guidance about shooting preparation and focus:
“Get more elevation. He said, ‘In the 15 minutes pregame, I work out hard. You can’t flip it on and off.’ Those type of things stick with me. Anytime he shoots the ball, whether it’s for fun, he was always locked in. And those were always the things I feel like help me more because I’m more locked in and focused on my jumper.”
On adjusting his shot mechanics from midrange to the three-point line:
“I always elevated really high on my midrange. So, I just felt like moving it back to the 3-point line, and it worked out. And I’m not worried about guys blocking my shot.”
On speaking with Ray Allen directly:
“It was a cool moment to talk to one of the greatest shooters to ever play.”
Jordan Clarkson
On embracing his long-term role as a bench scorer:
“Yeah, that’s my job. That’s my role. I don’t expect nothing more, don’t expect nothing less. Just come out and try to impact whatever time I get.”
On accepting a reserve role throughout his career:
“I kind of knew that this is what I was going to do. Cleveland, came off the bench, same thing. It hasn’t changed since then. Just really embraced it and ran with it.”
Victor Wembanyama
On his knee injury and confidence after leaving the game:
“I was confident. I was this close to coming back in the game. They had to hold me back. It was just a hyperextension, so it should be minimal. We’ve got to do everything tomorrow still to check that everything’s OK.”
On how he felt postgame:
“I’m feeling good, just sore. I’m confident. I was close to coming back into the game. They had to hold me back. It was just a hyperextension. It should be a minimal.”
Mitch Johnson (Spurs Head Coach)
On seeing Victor Wembanyama finish the game on the bench:
“Have not been able to talk to the medical staff yet, but I think I saw what everybody else saw. Obviously, he finished the game on the bench with his teammates. So, I think that made me feel good.”
