New York hosts the 1-6 Bulls tonight for their second game in a week after beating them last Wednesday.
Chicago is not a team the Knicks should be too worried about, but hey, this is a matchup between sub-.500 teams, so who knows what will happen then and there.
Here’s some of what we heard from the Knicks heading into today’s game.
Mike Brown
On a mediocre start to the season:
“Everything can get better… I’m not pissed about the start or upset about the start. There’s a part of me… I’m a little excited that we’re struggling. I want to see if we, right now, can figure it out.
“When you go through the offseason that we went through, everybody celebrates you the way that this lovely city did and the fans of the New York Knicks did, you want to be shaken and brought back to earth right away when the season starts because that grounds you.
“Right now, because we’re not playing our best basketball, we’re seeing some of the challenges that we need to work on. Right now we could be winning games, but it could be false reality.”
On Jalen Brunson’s early-season shooting struggles:
“He’s taking the same shots as in the past. In my opinion, he’s just missing shots. He’s taking the right shots. I think all our guys are, for the most part, taking the right shots. Right now, they’re not going in. And that can be for this reason, that reason, I don’t know, and I’m not going to try to overanalyze it. As long as they keep taking the right shots, keep working on the shots, I think eventually they’re gonna fall sooner than later.”
On the NBA’s best shooters’ slumps:
“It happens. It happens to the best of them because everybody is definitely human and every human has their ups and their downs when it comes to shooting. That’s why we have to keep embracing the little things, because they’re not gonna always fall.”
On Landry Shamet’s natural ability to create opportunities through off-ball movement:
“You could drill it, and guys will pick up on it, but you can tell (Shamet) is a natural with it.”
Jalen Brunson
On the explanation for his unusually poor shooting percentages to start the season:
“Missing shots. I normally make.”
On whether his offseason wrist surgery has affected his shooting:
“Not at all.”
On Landry Shamet’s ability to create defensive closeouts:
“He creates great closeouts, whether he’s shooting or catching. He has a good knack for it.
“It’s just how he operates. He just finds the right windows, whether it’s benefiting him or someone else.”
On Jordan Clarkson’s role:
“He has a professionalism about it. For a person who is willing to do that — he makes our team better. Great person, great teammate. Off the court, he’s a great dude and someone I enjoy being around.”
OG Anunoby
On why the Knicks’ defense has been ahead of their offense early in the season:
“We have great coaches. [Brendan O’Connor] and [Darren Erman], they do a great job indicating to us what we need to be doing on the court, and then guys are executing defensively and we’re getting stops. That’s always our goal.
“We don’t think about it. Even when you said that, I didn’t think about it. There’s always room for improvement though, so always striving for better.”
Josh Hart
On the Knicks finally increasing their pace:
“We finally played fast. We’ve been playing very slow, very stagnant. We finally got out, we ran.”
Tyler Kolek
On the champion Knicks remaining a work in progress:
“It’s early in the season. I think everything’s a work in progress. Last year, I feel like we probably hit our best stride in the playoffs. So we were a work in progress the whole year. That’s the nature of the NBA season. You gotta keep getting better each and every day, each and every game, and be ready to go.”
Landry Shamet
On the Knicks’ dissatisfaction with their start to the season:
“I just think we’ve got to win, and I think it’s still early in the season, and I don’t think anybody in this locker room is satisfied with where we’re at. Happy to be in the win column tonight, but, you know, to point to 10 things offensively and defensively that we need to improve on. So the good news is there’s no panic there. Some nights right now, it might be the offense ahead of the defense and vice versa. We’ve had a hard time making shots so far early in the season. Tonight a few went in, but then we had some slippage defensively. So, a little give and take, but luckily that’s not the point. The point is for us to continue to get better and we’ll continue to do that.”
On Mike Brown holding the Knicks accountable and not allowing the Nets win to disguise their problems:
“We have to be real with ourselves. And Mike’s great with that, assesses things in film, calls it as it is. Our group’s great with that. We all understand that by no means — we’re not taking this as any potential fool’s gold. The whole goal right now is to continue to get better, and we want to do that. So that’s the thought process.”
On learning to move without the basketball by playing three-on-three without dribbling as a child:
“I remember growing up playing full-court three-on-three with no dribble, so you just learn how to move without the ball. I’m lucky I had that implemented for me at a young age. I wish more kids and hope more kids would do that moving forward in today’s game. I think it really helps you learn how to play and understand how to move and get open. So, it’s kinda always been something I’ve tried to continue to get better at.”
