The Knicks beat the Wolves on Wednesday and the man of the minute was none other than Mitchell Robinson.
Mitchy Ain’t No Snitchy!
Here’s what he heard from Coach Brown and a few other Knickerbockers before and after yesterday’s trouncing.
Mike Brown
On the Timberwolves:
“We’re preparing like he’s gonna play, but it’s a really good team. Tim Connelly’s done a nice job putting the team together.”
On Deuce McBride’s performance:
“I gotta give a lot of credit to Deuce. Deuce was aggressive the right way. He played under control. If they tried to pick up full-court, he drove it by them. He touched the paint. He played off two and he sprayed it. And guys got great looks when he got us into our offensive. Josh was also a big catalyst in terms of trying to get us to push the pace and play the right way.”
On the offensive output:
“Fifty-five field goals made, 32 assists, so the ball is moving, the ball is humming. That was part of the success we had in the second half. Our quick decisions, the floor was spaced the right way, we just kept trying to share the ball and find an open teammate.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s stat line:
“I was shocked (Mitchell Robinson) only had three. Mitch was all over the place, guarding everybody, blocking shots, contesting shots.”
On first-half struggles vs. Minnesota:
“Proud of our guys. I thought the first half, I thought Minnesota did a good job with their physicality and their pressure. They kind of had us on our heels. And one of the things we talk about, or the main thing we talked about at halftime is just trying to be the aggressor and not play on your back heel. And I thought our guys did a good job of flipping that switch at halftime. Hopefully, we could have done it from the beginning, but our guys figured it out.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s workload:
“Basically, we’re managing him and it’s ramping him up. So his minutes will go up. I just listen to what Casey says at the end of the day. It’s just like before, a process of getting him going and continuing to improve.”
On OG Anunoby:
“OG is as talented and strong and talented as they come.”
On the bench impact:
“It was obviously a collective effort, but those two guys did a lot of little things that won’t show up in here, and helped us become the aggressors in that second half, especially.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On being a Knick:
“I’m a Knick, so I think about nothing else but this team. Happy to be here. Happy to be in front of these fans. Happy to be in the Garden, the Mecca. Can’t wait to go out there and compete again.”
On facing his former team:
“I’m still stunned, I mean, I’m still stunned. It’s weird. I feel more like a Knick now after everything we went through last year, but it’s weird to see that Wolves jersey -- especially the fire black one -- and not see ‘Towns’ on the back of it.”
On what he built in Minnesota:
“Built something special there. It’s different when you’re in process and now you’re going against the process. They’re a great team. To see what they’re doing right now, special, and I expect nothing less than greatness from them.”
On playing against former teammates:
“It’s always great when you see your brothers. Ant, becoming the face of the league. Me and Rudy, years and years of battles against each other, turning teammates, having a close bond. It was really good to compete against my brothers. It’s deeper than basketball. It’s family.”
On the team win vs. Minnesota:
“This was a great win for us. We found a way to continue to win as a team. Tonight was a great night for all of us to focus on the goal at hand and in the end get the win.”
Mitchell Robinson
On his rebounding vs. Gobert:
“This is nothing new.”
On his offensive rebounding approach:
“I was just out there being me. Gobert likes to go help [to block shots]. And so that’s the perfect opportunity to crash the glass, and that’s what I did.”
On position and effort:
“It’s about getting in the right position, and go get the ball.”
On his new free-throw routine:
“Something I came up with.”
On using fewer dribbles before foul shots:
“Feel like it helps — when you take three, you got more time to think about it, as opposed to one, then load up, and go right into it. It’s kind of easier than just going 1, 2, 3.”
On recovering after hand fracture:
“I changed it a few times. Remember the time I broke my hand? My hand placement, I couldn’t really get it back how it was at first. I kind of just had to keep doing it, keep doing it, keep doing it. Now, I got it kind of back to where it used to be. And I’m good.”
On body angle adjustment:
“Every time I shot the ball, it would go left.”
On whether or not he rides the horses he owns:
“I’m not answering that, because y’all media guys take that a little too freaky.”
Jalen Brunson
On home crowd and growth:
“I think we’re growing, we’re learning. Obviously playing at home is a big factor. When we get back on the road we have to focus up even harder than we do at home. Find a way to win. The energy at home is great. Playing in front of these fans is awesome. We’ve got to continue to improve.”
On Robinson creating second chances:
“Whenever he’s out there doing that, it makes us really comfortable shooting shots because we might get a second chance.”
OG Anunoby
On the win over Minnesota:
“We’re well coached. They do all this stuff in practice. We’re just trying to execute it and follow through with what the game plan is.”
On playing the right way:
“We’re all about getting stops, taking care of the ball and executing. Playing the right way is important. And tonight we did all of that.”
Deuce McBride
On team defense vs. Minnesota:
“Guarding as a team, they got a lot of talented guys on the other side, so I think our game plan was just to guard as a team, not one man can do it. I had a great night defending, but it was because of my teammates behind me.”
On bench confidence:
“I think it’s just the confidence we give to each other coming off the bench.”
Donte DiVincenzo
On Robinson’s impact:
“He had nine offensive rebounds. More rebounds than we had individually as a team. Like every single player. … We know what he’s going to do. And he did exactly what his job is.”
Anthony Edwards
On facing Towns:
“Man, he dunked on me today. I didn’t jump, though. But yeah, he backed me down. But he’s strong as hell. And he’s 7 feet tall. I stood him up for five seconds, though. At that point, somebody’s got to come help me. At 6-3, 6-4, and he’s 7 feet, I need some help at some point.”
On Robinson’s dominance:
“Man, super-huge problem. Blocking shots. He did everything.”
Julius Randle
On Robinson’s growth:
“He’s just nonstop motor. That’s just what he does. He knows that he’s really good at [offensive rebounding] and over the years he’s just locked in on that more and more. And he knows that’s where he makes his biggest impact.”