Will the Knicks ever lose a game again?
Will New Yorkers ever watch their team drop one inside MSG?
We don’t know about that, but we surely heard the protagonist of yet another home win talk a bunch in the past few hours.
Mike Brown
On Ja Morant and the Grizzlies:
“[The Grizzlies are] really good in transition. Everyone looks at Ja as a highlight — and he is. He’s explosive, athletic, dynamic. But what’s underrated about him is he throws the ball ahead. They’re obviously missing guys due to injury, but when you have two All-Stars on your roster, anything can happen.”
On Jalen Brunson’s usage:
“I think he’s gonna get better as time goes along and he continues to find his spots and we find spots for him. At least as of now — or a game ago — he’s averaging 27 points in fewer minutes. My thought process in this whole thing is I don’t want people to sit on him in the pick-and-roll or in a specific action. I like moving him around so it’s harder to deny or be physical with him because he’s not in the same place all the time.”
On Brunson’s off-ball impact:
“I like to move him around so that it’s a little harder to deny or be physical with him because he’s not in the same place all the time. He may be setting a screen, getting a screen or cutting backdoor. All of those things, I think, for him in the long run, especially when you’re going against a team in a seven-game series and they’re trying to take certain things away, there are other things that he knows he can go to. We’ll work on that all year.”
On Yabusele’s effort vs. Memphis:
“Yabu played hard and he’s gotta keep playing hard. I thought his pace was really good, especially offensively. The times he needed to ball screen, he did a great job sprinting into the ball screen, creating separation — he did a fantastic job setting the screen and getting out of the screen.”
On transition defense lapses on Tuesday:
“The first half, we did a really good job in a lot of areas…and our transition defense in the first half wasn’t great but it was ok against a team like that. According to our measurements, they had 16 fastbreak points against us in the first half. The second half, we let up. We didn’t sprint back like we should have…we did not play our rules and they got layup after layup after layup against us in transition, which gave them confidence…29 fastbreak points to a team in a half is going to kill ya. Especially when you have 11 turnovers in that half. We were careless with the ball as well…Hopefully, we’ll grow from this and try to put 48 minutes in our next game because those two areas we did not do a good job of.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s absence not having to do with Memphis’ comeback attempt:
“It wasn’t about Mitch; they killed us in transition. Give them credit because they kept fighting, but we could have had anybody on the floor, it would have been bad. We didn’t do a good job getting back, we didn’t do a good job following our rules while getting back.”
On instilling joy and motivation:
“One of our values is joy. One of our principles or rules is to have fun. If you’re gonna preach something or say something, you gotta be about it. We try to find different ways to find that joy or to try to help our players have fun, because the season can be long and it can be monotonous. It can get boring. And they’re human, they’re not superhuman, even though we all think they should be because of the money they get paid and we put them on a pedestal. But they wanna have fun, it’s a kids game.”
On the need for more defensive recognition in the mainstream media:
“Most people, including you guys [in the media] especially, you’re gonna say who scored 30, or who may have 15 assists or 15 rebounds. Sometimes, it’s about, ‘OK, who came in and changed the game defensively?’ Who guarded the ball well? Who got a ton of deflections that you guys might not be charting? Who challenged shots better than anyone else or who took two charges that game?’ We wanna give those guys some recognition because we want people out there to understand it’s not just about the guy that scored 30 or the guy that got 15 assists or the guy that got 15 rebounds.”
On Guerschon Yabusele’s ultra-limited role:
“I think everybody is still learning. At the end of the day, there’s only so many minutes. I’m not sure it’s all quote-unquote his fault.
“It’s the circumstance sometimes. I put him in, take him out. It’s a little hard to get a rhythm doing that. I’ve got to take some blame in that as well. And I think over time, because he’s a really good basketball player, he’ll show it. He needs some minutes to show it, and I don’t know if those are always there for him.
“He may play a whole bunch of minutes at times, he may play a few. He may not play at all. And that’s part of what our guys have to accept until we can figure out what we’re gonna do.”
On preferring motorcycles over Mitch’s monster trucks:
“My monster trucks are my motorcycles. I got two Harley-Davidsons. So if you ever hear country music on the highway — in the summertime, I don’t ride in the wintertime — it could be Mitch in a monster truck or it could be Mike Brown on his Harley. One of the two. So it’s country music first and then it’s old-school rap second.”
Guerschon Yabusele
On fitting into the team whatever his role is:
“I’m just trying to come out here and learn and fit perfect so I can try to help the team. Just over there trying to be aware when I’m out there on the court — or even if I’m out there on the bench — about what the team is doing and trying to find a way to impact the game and the team in a positive way.”
Jalen Brunson
On his offseason preparation:
“In the offseason, (relocation/catch-and-shoot) 3s is what I worked on. The talk was playing off-ball, so why don’t I just work on that? That was a lot of the stuff I did this summer. The ball is going in when I do it.”
On three-point shooting emphasis:
“We’re emphasizing it, but I think the best thing right now is that a lot of them are good shots. We may have some end of shot clock shots, but the way we’re getting them is great. We just got to keep generating them the way we are and just keep making advantages for each other.”
On the need for finishing games better:
“Yeah, we’re clicking (on offense), most importantly, we’ve got to finish games better. Whatever’s happening on offense, there’s going to be times when we’re not making shots and stuff. But we got to better defensively no matter what. It has to be our focus moving forward.”
On the team offensive flow under Brown:
“Ball’s moving, playing off each other, playing ball. When the ball is going in like that, it’s great to see.”
On being a ‘nepo baby’:
“It feels great. I’m very fortunate.”
On being coached by his dad:
“I feel like every now and then we always make awkward eye contact, usually after I turn the ball over.”
Mikal Bridges
On Brunson’s catch-and-shoot ability:
“I’ve been around him so long and understand how well he can catch-and-shoot. I feel like I find him the most, him or OG (Anunoby), when I drive because they relocate so well and find the empty space. His catch-and-shoot is ridiculous. He works on it all the time, all day. His numbers might be different because he shoots a lot off the dribble, too.”
Miles McBride
On defending home court:
“We want to take advantage of being at home absolutely. Just make sure we go out there and handle business every night.”
On the Knicks’ Defensive Player of the Game award:
“It’s a fun thing. I feel like guys are locked in and getting stops now. So I feel like it’s something as a team we can connect on.”
Josh Hart
On the symbolism behind the Knicks’ DPOG gear:
“Obviously being in the city, Timbs are New York. And Timbs are kind of your do-it-all shoe. Obviously not athletic, but blue collar kind of shoe. So that award — you got to award the guy who does a lot of the dirty work. So that works.”
On Brunson’s chances at winning a Knicks’ DPOG:
“A broken clock is right twice a day. He’ll get one. Do I think he’s going to get more than three? Nah. No way.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On staying focused in the present:
“I worry about the present. Today is Brooklyn. Tuesday is someone else — Memphis. And then Wednesday? I only know about Wednesday because it’s my birthday the next day. For me, I just always stay focused on the present. The future will take care of itself. Get this win. Find a way to win tonight. Tomorrow we’ll regroup and worry about the next one.”
On adjusting to Brown’s system:
“I think everything we’re doing is still a work in progress and we’re trying to — all of us are trying to figure out how we can impact in the system most efficiently. I’m glad we’re learning through wins.”
Jordan Clarkson
On adjusting to the team and Brown’s system:
“I still think I’ve got a long way to go in terms of all the calls and all the movement we have offensively. It’s taken some time to get used to everybody and the system and coach as well, so I’m just trying to stay locked in on that offensively and then defensively for me it’s being in the right spots and trying to bring anything I can on that end.”
