Do you know what a good plan is for New Year’s Eve?
Watching the Knicks, that’s it.
Here’s a bunch of words from your boys as they will try to get back to their homes with a dub against the Spurs in time for twelve o’clock.
Mike Brown
On Mohamed Diawara’s feel for the game and development:
“In the summertime you started to see his feel. Just his feel for the game is uncanny for a guy who is 6-8 or 6-9 and for how young he is.
And then everything you try to talk about or teach him, he tries to observe and go do it. He works extremely hard. He’s long. He’s a pretty good defender. Getting better. Just a lot of little things that you kind of watch and go, ‘Oh my gosh, wow.’ And all those things when you add them up to a possible opportunity it gives you more confidence as a coaching staff to throw him out there and say, okay let’s see what’s going to happen.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s absence on Mon/Wed and load managing the country boy:
“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 communication and building trust with Mikal Bridges:
“I try to communicate with everybody. But I’m human just like everybody else. Sometimes I may not communicate enough. Sometimes I may try to over-communicate. It’s a fine line that you’ve got to try to figure out. Everybody is human, and everybody needs to be touched. That’s all I was trying to do with Mikal. I was just trying to touch him, to get his thoughts. Let him know my thoughts. Because you assume certain things. It makes an ass out of you and me. That’s all it was.”
On OG Anunoby’s two-way dominance in crunch time:
“Our defensive player of the game, just put his footprint on both ends, another All-Star is OG Anunoby. I don’t know who can guard OG on a close out. If you’re closing out on him, it’s a wrap if he wants it to be a wrap. You can be big, you can be small. You’ve got to get all the way to his body because he’ll knock down the three. If you don’t get back to his body, he’s so quick and so strong he’s going right through your inner thigh. Offensively he was huge for us. He was huge offensively, huge on the glass. But just as importantly he was our defensive player of the game.”
On team standards, sacrifice, and belief:
“At the end of the day it’s all of our standards. Sacrifice. When you play 12 guys and guys don’t care when they come in and out, you’ve seen that. People are sacrificing for their teammates. You play 12 guys and guys just keep plugging away, there’s a connectivity. It doesn’t matter if we’re up 10, down 10, our guys just keep staying with it. That shows the competitive spirit. More importantly, it’s the belief in the process. That belief not only in the process, but in each other, it helps out. And we’re all being held accountable on the sidelines. When you have that from a group, man, you can do a lot of things.”
Mohamed Diawara
On the uncertainty of draft night and his preparation:
“I didn’t know at all. I was hoping to get drafted but I had no clue if I would at all. I worked out with 13 teams. The feedback was pretty good. I did a lot of good workouts. I feel like I showed a lot of stuff to other teams. I felt confident that I wouldn’t regret anything.”
Miles McBride
On Mohamed Diawara’s attacking mindset:
“He has this mindset of just attacking. It kinda reminds me of myself, just attacking. You trust your preparation and results will end up in your favor. Just reminded me of myself. You’re young and don’t know anything. You just go attack.”
On trusting faith after returning from injury:
“I’m always trusting in God and whatever he has planned for me. He said I needed a little bit of rest, but I just wanted to come out here, do what I need to do to get back right. And get a win with the team.”
Jalen Brunson
On his first impressions of Mohamed Diawara:
“Honestly, I didn’t know Mo when he was drafted. I’m not going to lie. When he came to summer league and I came to New York before preseason, I got to work with him and see him. He’s very confident, and the way we play, it’s great for the way we play. Did I do intel? No. But when I got to know him, I knew he’d be an asset for us.”
On the Knicks’ poor starts and finding ways to win:
“We understand how we started was unacceptable. And we got to figure out how to win a game from where we were. So we got a lot of confidence in each other. But we got to start better.”
Mikal Bridges
On the Knicks’ expanded rotations and the new bench energy:
“Yeah, for sure. Knowing that the work you put in, you might get your name called. And also like it builds more as a team. We love each other and are competitive at the same time. But knowing that you’re playing gives even more energy because you feel like you contribute, knowing you might get called. It’s just a different energy for the bench.”
On his growing relationship with Mike Brown:
“I think honestly right now is probably the most I’ve been close with Mike. Just have some good conversations, talk to each other. Picking his brain, hear what he’s thinking and me voicing some things. Getting that clarity from your coach. Our relationship was always fine, but I think it’s definitely going up.”
On adjusting to playing fewer minutes and communication:
“I’m so used to playing a lot. Sometimes I might get subbed out and I’m looking like, ‘What?’ But I know something’s right. Sometimes you need a break. That’s building your relationship with the coach and building that trust.”
On feeling better by playing fewer minutes this season:
“I definitely feel better. It’s definitely working.”
On entering the All-Star talk and his priorities:
“Me, personally, I can’t control All-Star selections. I do appreciate Mike voicing for me and OG. But I’m just trying to be the best version of myself for this team. There’s so much room for me to grow. Just get better game by game and develop more relationships. I got those mothaf–kas some watches, so I’m pretty sure I’m close with them.”
OG Anunoby
On defending Zion Williamson on Monday:
“He’s an amazing player, one of the toughest covers in the league, downhill. He’s really an incredible player. Just taking the challenge, being more physical.”
On his All-Star case:
“If fans watch the game beyond the boxscore and notice the little things, and the two-way impact.”
