New York half-baked its play for the greater part of Sunday’s affair…
…but turned up the heat late and did enough to win another game.
Here’s a bunch of stuff said of late by your Knicks superheroes.
Mike Brown
On Robinson’s absence on Sunday and his back-to-back management:
“Obviously, he hasn’t played a back-to-back yet. But I’m not talking to our medical staff asking, ‘Is this going to be like this the rest of the year?’”
On Towns’ defensive impact against the Bulls:
“Not only did he get a double-double, he was great for us defensively.”
On Towns’ different opportunities and usage compared to last season:
“I understand it’s something that we need to talk about, and I’m OK talking about it, but until those numbers change, there’s not much for me to say because he’s getting an opportunity. We don’t call a ton of plays. Now, you compare his numbers to last year, [backup center Mitchell Robinson] didn’t play in the regular season. KAT averaged 36, 37 minutes a game. Mitch is playing now. Landry didn’t play last year. He’s playing. We’re trying to get him up to 17 to 22, 23 minutes a game. We’ve got Jose [Alvarado] now. … So when you do that, guys’ minutes are going to go down. Not only are guys’ minutes going to go down, but guys’ field goal attempts are going to go down and all the things that you see impact the game statistically.”
On Yabusele’s fit in New York and lack of minutes:
“The position he’s shown he’s best in in the NBA — the small-ball center spot — we just didn’t have the minutes consistently for him to be there. And then when he was at the 4. For us, because of our centers, the matchups weren’t always there. So we had to pick and choose when he was on the floor and how we were going to play him.
“His skill set is obviously as a small-ball center. And it’s picking and popping. And then it’s spacing the floor. And the way we try to play, we try to move a lot. Cut a lot. And then it’s tough because we have [Karl-Anthony Towns] playing heavy minutes, and we have [Mitchell Robinson] playing heavy minutes. This is a situation in Chicago — and even in Philadelphia [where Yabusele was last season], it was a situation where they were able to find consistent minutes for him. Because he’s a good player. Started for the French national team. We all know what they did. The style of play is a little bit different.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On embracing title-winning expectations:
“I think as a team, it’s a blessing to have expectations and have high standards. It means we’re doing something right. And last year, we did a lot right. The fans are expecting even more from us with an offseason and another season under our belts with experience and unity and understanding each other. So when we get in those spots in the playoffs, we can find ourselves winning the game. For me, personally, my career’s been full of pressure. I’ve always been held to a higher standard than everyone. I understand that criticism comes with that when you’re not succeeding, and rightfully so. My whole career has been based on me getting that ring and winning. I understand more than ever now in my career that winning trumps everything.”
On the Knicks’ unity and sacrifice:
“That’s why I’m so adamant about our team staying together, having that continuity, having that unity. Nothing deterring us or dividing us on this team. It’s a special team, we have a special group of guys. For us to win, it’s going to take all of us to win a championship. I’m so blessed that I’ve got these guys in this locker room and I’ve got my support system, my family, my fiancée that are pushing me to another level even from last year to do what’s needed for this team to win. Whether that’s to sacrifice more like this year or like in these last two games, if I’m touching the basketball, I got to make the shots. I’m glad I’ve been able to do that for my teammates and we’re able to win these games.”
On not using excuses in dealing with back-to-backs:
“There’s no excuses. We’re professionals. We’ve gotta come out here and do our job. Our fans expect it. The city expects us to play with tenacity. Tonight, I thought we did a good job of not making excuses and getting the job done.”
On his confidence coming from preparation:
“I work hard on my game. I put the time and effort in, and in my mind and my support system, I don’t think anyone’s put more time in their craft than me, and that’s where my confidence has grown from. It’s not from touching the ball in the game. It’s from touching the ball in the empty gym with no light, no fans and my [player development] coach Mark Bryant. So I’m extremely confident in my game. I’m extremely confident mentally that when I do touch the ball, I can do something really special with it. When I touch the basketball, I’ve gotta make these shots, and I’m glad I’ve been able to do that to help us win these two games.”
On dealing with pressure and having a clear goal in mind:
“I think as a team, it’s a blessing to have expectations and high standards. That means we’re doing something right, and last year we did a lot right and fans are expecting a lot from us. For me personally, my career’s been full of pressure, and I’ve always been held to a higher standard than everyone, and I always understood that criticism comes when you’re not succeeding and rightfully so. It’s a special team. We have a special group of guys, and for us to win, it’s gonna take all of us to win a championship.”
Josh Hart
On navigating the weekend back-to-back:
“An 8:30 game and then traveling for a back-to-back game, I think, is outrageous. But happy we were able to get the win.”
On Bridges’ offensive involvement:
“I guess [he does have high expectations given the outgoing draft picks]. At the end of the day, Kal’s gonna do what he’s gotta do. He’s gonna find his way. Like I said, I think there’s times where we can do a better job of making sure he’s involved offensively and aggressive and get him into his spots, same thing with OG [Anunoby[ and JC [Jordan Clarkson] when he plays — someone like that who can score, we’ve gotta make sure we put him in position to be successful and not just doing it within the flow of the offense.”
On Bridges’ clutch ability:
“With Kal, I’ll let y’all figure that one out. We know what we have in him. We know what he means to the team. And the beauty of him is he can have a terrible game the whole game and make a game-winning play, and I think he’s done that — I wouldn’t say terrible game — but he’s done that plenty of times, making game-winning plays late in the game when we need him. That’s why we got him.”
Jalen Brunson
On Towns seeing shots fall:
“When anyone sees the ball go through the hoop, it gives a level of confidence and makes you feel like you can do anything on the court. Then you shot-fake, they bite, and then you’re able to make plays for yourself or others. For (Towns), it’s a great sign. He’s sticking with it. That’s who he is.”
Gilbert Arenas
On pushing back against soft narrative:
“When you look at KAT, he’s just running around and he says things in interviews. You think that’s actually how he plays the game. If you really look at the play, he does play a rugged style of basketball. He does bang. He’s just bang, bang, spin, got you. But he just has a shot. And there’s times where if he has a little guy on him, he shoots it. He has a big guy on him, he shoots it. But he will sit there post up, too a little for a big guy, but he’s smart enough to know, well yeah I have a little guy on me. If I try to bang first he’s going to flop, that’s an offensive foul. Well I can just shoot right over him. So I can’t say he plays the game wrong or right. He plays the game how he sees it in the moment.”