As everybody knew before tip-off, the Knicks ended up beating the Bucks on Tuesday.
Wednesday, however? That’s an entirely different beast, as New York hosts Cleveland.
A different beast, I mean, as they wear red threads instead of green ones. Other than that, this one’s also ending in yet another easy Knicks’ dub.
Mike Brown
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ rebounding instincts, positioning and physical advantages:
“He’s just got a nose or a knack for the ball. You know he doesn’t jump real high, but he’s long, and he understands angles.
“KAT’s in that category when it comes to rebounding. We emphasize it quite a bit, and we tell guys, ‘You gotta put bodies on bodies.’ So if our small is on other people around him or putting bodies on bodies, it’s a one-on-one contest for KAT, and he’s gonna win most times.”
On Towns recording a double-double in each of the Knicks’ first 10 games:
“He continues to be a double-double machine at a high level.”
On the Knicks’ defensive physicality against Milwaukee:
“Our group, they were pretty efficient tonight. I thought our physicality on the defensive end of the floor was at a pretty high level, and they did it the right way. They did it without fouling. Which was a lot of fun to watch. The point-of-attack defense, with Landry [Shamet] and especially Deuce [McBride] on the ball, was unbelievable. Deuce was our defensive player of the game. Could have gone to Landry as well. But just a fantastic job at the point of the screen in pick-and-rolls. [The Bucks] had two 13-point quarters and I’m sure they missed some shots, but I thought we also impacted their shots with our play.”
On Josh Hart’s ankle recovery and whether he could have played against Milwaukee:
“From what they’ve told me, correct me if I’m wrong, if he was not sick, he would (have played).”
On Jose Alvarado’s rotation fallout:
“We’ll go with who we go with until we feel that it’s time to go to the next guy. So again, it’s not anything negative right now on Jose or even Tyler when he’s out. They just got to be ready to play when their number’s called, and both of them are trying to do that.”
On Tyler Kolek earning the edge over Alvarado in the backup point guard competition:
“Right now, Tyler’s played pretty good basketball. You know, we’ve strung some games, and, you know, again, those guys are close.
“The reality is Jose got hurt. Tyler gave us some good minutes, but at the end of the day, I sat them both down and I told them: ‘Jose, you’re our backup because you ended the season as the backup, but both you guys helped us win last year. Jose in the Finals. Tyler in the Cup Finals. So I feel like both you guys can play and contribute at a high level. So both you guys got to be ready because a change can happen at any time.’”
On sticking with Kolek unless his performances warrant another change:
“And so I’m gonna go with Tyler, and if I think I need to make a change because Tyler’s not getting it done in my eyes, then I’ll go back to Jose.”
On Alvarado and Kolek supporting their teammates despite fluctuating playing time:
“So they just have to both stay ready and make sure that they continue to do what they’re doing. They both, when they’re not playing, they both have done a heck of a job cheering for their teammates and trying to uplift everybody.”
On the Knicks’ offensive rebounding on Tuesday:
“Obviously our players, they’re trying to compete most times when it comes to going after a shot attempt. So I give our players a lot of credit.”
On why the Knicks don’t need extraordinary individual performances from their starters:
“With the way our team is built we don’t need anybody to do anything extraordinary. Just go, like Landry said, be yourself, play hard. It’s not necessarily always how you start games. It’s how you finish.”
On allowing the flow of games to determine his rotation:
“The game will dictate it. I go in with a minutes sheet. I don’t know if we’ve followed the minutes sheet once so far this year or let alone even last year. It’s just a cheat sheet of different lineups that you think you can run at the right time based off who’s out there to defend, who’s out there handling the ball, who’s out there setting screens and all that other stuff. We let the flow of the game dictate what’s gonna happen.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On the Knicks returning to their fundamentals and improving defensively:
“I just think that we’re doing a great job of getting back to the basics. We started off slow, and now we’re picking it up. While the shooting isn’t doing great — I could be the first one to tell you about that tonight — but I think we’re doing a great job of executing right now at a high level, and our defense is there. At the end of the day, the offense will catch up. The defense is something you got to establish. We’re doing a great job of that right now.”
On approaching Willis Reed’s franchise record for consecutive double-doubles to start a season:
“I didn’t know that. I just know that this team right now, we’re on a good winning streak, we’re playing good basketball, and that’s the most important thing. That’s what the fans really want to hear about.”
Landry Shamet
On maintaining the same approach whether starting or coming off the bench:
“I try to keep things as consistent as possible. In the past in my career, if it was a spot start or a stretch of them, I think I made the mistake of trying to change too much. Or think I had to change a lot. Or do something differently. Or be something different. Just because I’m starting the reality is it’s the same basketball game. You can create different reasons as to why it’s different. But for me, and I think the whole goal for anybody, is setting yourself up for success and for me that just looks like keeping things as standard and concise as possible.”
On the Knicks’ constantly changing roles and the responsibility to contribute wherever needed:
“Like we’ve always said, with this team, that’s the kind of special benchmark of our group is it could, that could change from night to night. from person to person. There might be something required of me differently, tonight versus tomorrow night, might be making shots, might be guarding this guy. It might be being a great teammate on the bench and picking up somebody who’s struggling, or, whatever the case may be, all these roles are constantly evolving and rotating. And it’s all of our jobs collectively to just fill the voids that need filling when needed.”
Jordan Clarkson
On embracing the Knicks’ team-first culture regardless of how many minutes he plays:
“That’s just our culture here. No matter if it’s one minute, 30 seconds, 30 minutes during the game. That’s what we focus on. That’s what Mike has preached to us since he’s got here and that’s just a big thing all of us hold our hat on.”
