Hard to believe, but the Knicks finally won a thing after a four-game losing skid!
It was against the lowly, washed, old-butt Clippers, but you can only beat those in front of you, aimirte?
Here’s a bunch of words uttered by Coach Brown and a few others in the past few hours.
Mike Brown
On how the game against the Clippers turned late:
“It could’ve gone another way.”
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ impact and role in Wednesday’s win:
“KAT’s a double-double machine, so for him to get back on track and grab 11 rebounds, 20 points, just a big night for him. He’s an explosive scorer. Starting with me, I gotta continue to find ways to help him.”
“He’s an explosive scorer. I have to find ways to help him, like I have to help the rest of the team. What I like about tonight is that he’s an All-Star level player. Those type of players impact the game. The nine points definitely helped, but he did what great players do. He found other ways throughout the course of the ballgame to help this team win.”
On the bench production vs. Los Angeles:
“They feel pretty good about it, because it just proves or shows that they are capable to play that way anytime they want.”
On embracing adversity:
“When you go through what we’ve gone through, nobody wants to lose, but it helps us be better. It helps me be better. Our group embraced it.”
On keeping the team connected throughout the skid:
”I applaud our guys, because we hit some adversity. One of our standards is, ‘Hey, let’s stay connected.’ It’s up to me and KAT and Jalen to keep the group uplifted and connected, as well as everybody else in that locker room, and the guys did a heck of a job.
“It’s my job to keep the guys connected and continue to uplift guys. Guys in the locker room that are leaders, it’s their job, too.”
On learning from struggles during the season:
“It’s a great thing during the regular season, because it will help prepare you for the postseason. It will let you know whether or not you have the components to face adversity or tough times as a group, because you’ve already been through it once or twice throughout the course of the year. Now, that doesn’t mean I like to lose. I hate f–king losing. But I do embrace the adversity that we’re going through, because this is a great test.”
On staying even-keeled as a coach:
“I try to stay even-keeled, because just like if things are going well, I don’t want to get too high because I’ve been around a long time. Things can go bad that quick. But in the same breath, that’s part of the season, and I want to make sure they don’t ever get too high and they don’t ever get too low. I know, right now, part of that is this is not a time for me to go crazy, because I know our guys care.”
On what matters more on offense:
“Shot distribution, no. Body and ball movement, yes. I’m more apt for body and ball movement because shot distribution is going to vary.”
On offensive hierarchy, using Steph Curry as an example:
“One of the greatest shooters of all-time that I’ve been with in the past is Steph Curry. He may go the first half with five shots or three shots or whatever, and maybe he ends with 12 or 15 if he didn’t get that in the first half, but at the end of the day, it’s all gonna be whatever it needs to be. At the end of the day, Steph’s gonna have the most shots, Kevin Durant’s gonna have the second-most shots, Klay Thompson may have the third-most, and that’s what you’re looking at, because not everyone’s gonna have their average of shots every game.”
On leaning on team standards during rough stretches:
“When you go through times like this is where you rely on what your standard is. Our standard is about sacrifice, it’s about competitive spirit, it’s about connectivity, and it’s about a belief while being held accountable — starting with me — and then you lean on your staples on both sides of the ball. There are different things you can do, but you really rely on the foundation of what your philosophy is and what you’re trying to put in place for the group.”
On isolation-heavy tendencies:
“We’re not getting off it like we were in the past. You gotta make quick decisions and as soon as you feel another body come to you, you gotta get off it. And right now, we’re not doing it. We’re holding onto it too much, trying to force the issue too much. We have five staples and we’re not playing or adhering to what our staples are of late.”
On scheme flexibility moving forward:
“Everything is on the table right now for us defensively. We have to figure out — we as a group have to bring it physically — but we as a staff have to do whatever it is, offensively, defensively, we need to find ways to help that group. That’s what we’re paid to do.”
On shared responsibility between coaches and players:
“It’s a combination of both. We have to make sure as a staff we continue to try to put them as a group in the right position for them to have success based on who is on the floor. They need to help themselves, bringing a little more sense of urgency and physicality to the table.”
Jalen Brunson
On snapping the losing streak:
“We played a little desperate tonight. We needed a win, and I think the way we competed, the way we played was Knicks basketball.”
On attacking double teams:
“They had two on the ball on me for the majority of the game. So I just tried to attack it and tried to get off it quick to see if we can have advantage, four on three, and toward the end of the game, I got away a little bit.”
On Towns’ fourth-quarter impact:
“We needed it. Helped us increase our lead and it was big-time play from him. We all have to have each other’s backs. The way he played tonight, it’s what we needed.”
On sustaining effort after the win:
“For the most part, we played a little desperate tonight. We needed a win. The way we competed, the way we played, even though we were down in the first half, it was Knicks basketball. We just kept playing that way and found a way to win.”
Karl-Anthony Towns
On the fourth-quarter aggression:
“I made some shots. I didn’t make a lot of them, but I think tonight just shows aggression wins. Not letting go because some shots weren’t going in. Just stayed very aggressive, any opportunity that I got, and at the end of the day, it worked out for our team.”
On breaking the skid:
“I don’t think we were at our best today, but we did enough to win. This is a good start before getting on the road trip to stop the bleeding with four losses in a row and finally get one on the left column.”
On playing winning basketball beyond scoring:
“It was just about winning man. That’s not just about shooting. It’s about getting my teammates involved and making the right play. I need to touch the ball and get aggressive. I just want to impact the ball every single day.”
On his focus on impacting winning consistently:
“I said it last year, I say it this year, any time I touch the ball, I’m trying to be aggressive, whether that’s making a play for myself or my teammates. I want to impact winning every single day.”
On building momentum heading west for a four-game road trip:
“We weren’t at our best today, but we did enough to win. We got to be better than we were tonight. I have to be better. This is a good start before heading on the road trip to stop the bleeding. Now we have to build off of it.”
Carmelo Anthony
On the Knicks’ offensive predictability during the skid:
“This got me tight. I’m watching the game, the late-game offense becomes so, so predictable. The shot creation, that burden on Jalen Brunson, it’s too heavy on his shoulders from a night-to-night basis. The margins are very thin. Without easy offense, the Knicks miss shots that they turn into runouts the other way. You’re just focused on Jalen Brunson and there’s no movement, there’s no offense, there’s stagnation, and I don’t want to say you’re getting punked, but you’re getting punked in a sense.”
On missing secondary options:
“I was watching the game Monday night and I’m like, ‘Where’s KAT? Where’s OG? We can’t rely on Tyler Kolek like that.’ KAT can’t have six points and one rebound and OG gotta step up.”
On the team’s overall condition:
“The Knicks are not broken. They’re far from broken.”