The Knicks don’t seem to know how to win away from MSG to save their collective life.
New York is 2-0 at home and 0-3 on the road. How ‘bout them trips!?
Here’s some transcribed soundbites for your enjoyment (or not) as the [NBA takes over Mexico](https://www.nba.com/news/nba-mexico-city-game-2025-everything-to-know) City for _Día de Muertos_.
**_On having a full, healthy roster:_**
“You always want to be at full strength. This is a marathon. This is a process. We still have a lot of room to grow, so having everybody on the floor just gives you more of an opportunity to get some continuity with the guys together. You want that as much as possible. It’s good to have it probably for the first time tonight since I’ve been here.”
**_On managing Mitchell Robinson’s minutes:_**
“It’s harder, but it’s part of the process. Can it be done? Yes. Will we get it done? Yes. It’s something that we embrace because we want the best possible version of Mitch we can get. Casey and those guys will handle the technicalities of load management, and we’ll just try to get the group as much as we can as often as we can whenever we can and go from there.”
**_On defensive accountability without Robinson:_**
“Mitch is definitely an anchor of the defense with his size and athleticism and ability to change, block shots. We’re going to get better. But there are some things we have to do where we don’t solely rely on Mitch, and so there’s some areas that we can get better at and have to get better at, starting with guarding the ball and then making sure our shifts are right. And we’re not only shifting but we’re shifting big, too. And when we do that, we’re a pretty good defensive team.”
**_On lack of physicality in loss to Chicago:_**
“It’s real simple tonight. We lacked physicality that we wanted to have and we’ve been showing on the defensive end of the floor. Our ability to guard the basketball was not good in the first half. We were getting blown by possession after possession after possession.”
**_On defending the basketball:_**
“Our defense tonight in the first half especially — in the second half it was a little better — was non-existent and it starts with guarding the basketball. We have to guard better, guard the basketball, and it has to be with a sense of physicality because if we don’t teams are going to do exactly what Chicago did on the offensive end of the floor. We lost three in a row, we’ve hit some adversity early in the season. I’m interested to see how we respond.”
**_On players missing assignments:_**
“I know there were a lot of things game plan-wise that we didn’t adhere to.”
**_On the bench’s poor performance:_**
“We have to give a little time first before I’m too worried about it, but our bench does have to play better. We’ve got to knock those shots down or we’ve got to finish at the rim when we get there, or try to get out in transition to try to get a couple of easy ones from those guys coming off the bench. Right now we’re not doing any of it.”
**_On early-season adversity:_**
“This adversity is a great test for us. It’s early but it’s a great test for us and I’m looking to see what type of resiliency we have as a group.”
**_On staying true to the team’s playing style:_**
“I worry more about us than about our opponents, and I think if you become elite at what you do and you believe in what you do, you can do it at the highest level. So for us, it’s more about us. We can combat anyone’s transition if we take care of the ball and execute our rules the right way no matter if we’re playing fast or slow. We want to try to play fast. We’re not playing as fast as I want to right now, but I don’t wanna adjust every time I see an opponent to them. We want to make people adjust to us.”
**_On adjusting to a new role under Mike Brown:_**
“I feel like I’ve got the biggest adjustment out of the whole team. Just in terms of role, starting not starting, how the minutes are going to be, and I’ve got to know every position. There’s going to be times where I’m bringing the ball up, there’s going to be times when I’m the five, and there’s going to be times where I’m the four. So I literally have to know every play from every different position, and it’s one thing to know it in practice and go through it, but when it’s game pace, that’s the real test to it, so I’m still figuring that stuff out and it’s an adjustment. But this is my seventh coach, so I’ve had a lot of adjusting to do in my career so should be solid.”
**_On balancing ego and sacrifice:_**
“I think throughout the season, it’ll be a battle of kind of fighting the egotistical view of it. I think I did have a good year last year. And with a different role, now it’s totally different. I think the biggest thing I’ve had to sacrifice my whole career. So it’s never like, OK cool, and it’s seamless. There’s going to be days where I’m just like, ‘Man, that’s some bull.’ You know what I mean? But it’ll be a constant thing of fighting that but making sure I know that this is what’s best for the team and locking in on that.”
**_On accepting his place as a reserve:_**
“I’m cool not starting. That’s what I want to do for this season. For me there’s a different way to approach it mentally. Obviously when you have guys that are questionable and they’re a game-time decision, and now my role might be different, and I don’t know what my role is until an hour on the clock or 35 minutes on the clock. So it’s one of those things where like, if I’m not going to start, totally cool with it. But I don’t want to be like the next starter up because then everything is varying by game. I just want more of a consistent role and thought process so I can just perfect that role.”
**_On finding his rhythm after the back and finger injuries:_**
“For me, I knew it would take a little bit of time. Normally you’ve got the preseason to kind of get the wind under you. So I knew it was going to take a minute to get back in shape and get my legs under me and be confident in some of those shots. So I figured I’d give myself a week, week and a half of grace before I get too frustrated with myself.”
**_On delaying finger surgery until the offseason:_**
“For me, there probably will be a process until I get full feeling back, and that hand will be what it is and shooting. I’m working with Peter Patton all the time, and that will come along. So yeah, I’m not getting surgery.”
**_On Mitchell Robinson’s return and defensive impact:_**
“It’s huge because it allows us to get into the ball and be a little more physical on ball knowing that if we do get blown by, we have Mitch there protecting the paint, whether that’s blocking shots, deterring shots, altering shots. So defensively it’s huge, and he can guard on the perimeter and switch, so you add that and he’s a great screener, roller, he sets hard screens. He creates an advantage for us and obviously offensive rebounds, so it’ll be huge to get him back if he comes back today. And we’ll see.”
**_On failing to execute coach Brown’s game plan:_**
“We didn’t have any game-plan discipline. We didn’t do what was asked of us. Coach came up with a game plan and it’s on us to deliver. We can’t switch the game plan if we don’t do the game plan hard enough. I don’t know what to say.”
**_On watching the team struggle while sidelined:_**
“It’s been stressful, stressful to watch. What I bring a lot to the table, we’re missing right now.”
“Yeah, it’s frustrating. I like to play. Y’all seen it in the past, I like to go out there and play hard.”
“I ain’t telling you nothing.”
**_On missing games to start the season:_**
**_On whether the plan continues all season:_**
“Nah, it’s part of the plan.”
**_On involvement in load management:_**
“Of course. Going with the flow.”
**_On conditioning and fitting into Brown’s system:_**
“The running is going to be a bear at first, but I’m going to keep working and keep pushing myself.”