Can you believe the Nets once made the New York-New Jersey matchup a rivalry? Sheesh…
The Knicks gave NCAA-level Brooklyn no option on Sunday, beat the Nets by some thousand points, and kept their home record looking impeccable.
Here’s what the protagonists had to say before and after yesterday’s affair.
On facing Jordi Fernandez:
“It’s great [coaching against Jordi]. I’m just happy for him and his family. He’s a great young coach. He’s got a young team, obviously, so they gotta figure things out. Anytime I get a chance to see him, I always love to see him, but I want to kick his ass.”
On improving the Knicks’ offense:
“I truly believe we can still play better, we can still mix it up. What we have to get cautious of is not settling. We’re moving a lot of bodies around and we want to keep moving bodies around and make it hard on the defense. And if we do, and it becomes just second nature to us, then we’ll have a chance to be a pretty good offensive team.”
On offensive execution details:
“Our recognition… out on the floor and our pace, getting the ball in bounds on a make, not walking the ball up, getting right to our stuff. If they take (a certain action) away, bam, we’ve got counters. Go to the counter.”
On playcalling philosophy:
“We still like to play out of concepts, read and react. I think our guys are getting a little more comfortable with that.”
On installing plays slowly:
“Trying not to put in too much too quick has been the challenge of us as a coaching staff because we don’t want to overwhelm them and we want to try to catch everybody up before we add too much more.”
On the read-and-react system:
“I think at the end of the day, it would be great if they can just play without play calls. So now it’s harder for the defense. Because if I sit there and (call a play from the sideline), well, the other team with the way scouting is and all that, they’re for sure going to have a coach standing up, (calling out how to defend the play.)… If you can play fast but can get to your stuff quickly — knowing that getting into your stuff you have three or four different options — that (makes it) hard (for the defense to get settled in). We want to be able to play that way throughout the whole year.”
On player freedom within the offense:
“I’m a quick decision guy. Catch it, pass it, shoot it, or snap drive. If Jalen catches it, he dances with it a little bit, he’s got that leeway, that freedom. If he dances with it two or three times in a row and it’s not working, it’s my job to say, ‘Hey, let’s go quick decision and we’re moving on.’ But those types of guys have the freedom.”
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ role:
“We want to keep trying to move him around so teams can’t just sit at the top of the floor. If we can do that, then I think eventually the game’s going to be a lot easier for him. He’s going to be in places where teams aren’t used to doubling. One time he’s here, now he’s (in a different location), now he’s (in a different location). So that’s what we plan on doing with him.”
On defensive flexibility:
“OG is a special player, Mitch is a special player. Mikal is a special player. Josh (Hart) is a special player. Deuce (McBride). So these guys have the freedom to do some things defensively that you kind of let it go.”
On defensive freedom and responsibilities:
“And if it happens too much and it’s not working, then you have to correct it. Even same thing on the glass. Josh is a special rebounder. And if we have crash zones where we want our guys to crash the glass from; the reality of it is, as special as Josh is, when it comes to second opportunities, he’s going to have a lot of freedom, no matter where he is on the floor.”
On contesting three-point shots:
“We want to be 100 percent but I’m OK at 75 percent or higher. And we had a lot of guys that were below 75 percent when it came to contesting (in recent games). We want them to do the best they can and no more. We want them to be the second jumper, do the best they can and no more. We believe that you can shift — or make that floor look smaller — because we’re long… But sometimes we have a knack of shifting and then when it comes to closing out, sometimes we don’t even put a hand up so we can do a little bit better job in that area.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s plus/minus stat:
“I don’t really fall into the plus-minus stuff a ton, but it’s another amazing stat. He keeps throwing up these stats that are amazing. I think he played 16.5 minutes, and he was plus-40. To impact the game that way — again, not a huge believer in it — but to see a number like that in the short amount of time he was playing, was just amazing.”
On Ariel Hukporti’s status:
“I don’t know. I can probably play 10 guys, and right now, he’s not in the top 10, so he’s just gotta keep himself ready, and when his number’s called, he’s just gotta go out there and he’s gotta play hard on both ends of the floor for his minutes.”
On complacency vs. playoff preparation:
“Yeah, we’re talented. No matter what we do on the floor, we’re going to have the ability to score. But you take the regular season and you prepare yourself for the postseason. If you just go out there and play the wrong way and win we still probably are going to score because we’re talented and we’ve got a lot of guys that can score. But it’s not going to help us later on.”
On foundational improvement:
“There are things that we have to continue to try to get better at in terms of our recognition and stuff like that out on the floor and our pace, get the ball in bounds on a make, not walking the ball up, getting right to our stuff. … There are a lot of little things. It’s hard to explain to you guys to a certain degree, but our guys know it. We’ll show it to them. But I do think we can be better. And that’s what we should all be striving for is to be better. There’s still a lot of room for us to grow.”
On self-criticism during a losing streak:
“I’ve said this before, you know, we had lost three in a row and a lot of people thought the world was– the sky was falling. We hadn’t been together long. I’ll be the first to admit: I didn’t know when to put Josh [Hart] in, when to take him out. I didn’t know when to put Mitch [Robinson] in, when to take him out, you know, I was still figuring out our rotations, and how we’re going to play, and all that other stuff.”
On the team’s growth after halftime vs. Nets:
“We just need time and, again, I thought I was bad—and we were bad as a team—in Miami. We went to, I think, Milwaukee next, and, thought we were pretty good in the first half. We kind of fell apart a little bit in the second half. Then we go to Chicago, not as good in the first half, pretty good in the second half. Again, it’s not going to happen in one night, we may go on another three-game losing streak. We may mess up in the third quarter. Who knows?”
On the importance of consistency:
“If you want to be great in life, you got to find a way to be consistent. That’s the biggest thing and that’s what we’ve been preaching and talking about, and all we did was just address our third quarters…Ty [Yeaton]‘s our strength coach, he’s not stretching ‘em any longer or whatever, our guys are going out and just playing, and they’re locked in.”
On focusing inward during regular season:
“I think you have to definitely worry about yourself. There’s just too many games to think about all the different schemes that your opponents may do and all that other stuff. So try to focus on yourself on both ends of the floor and all stuff so you have a foundation. My opinion, really critical to the success that you can have in this league, especially in the regular season.”
On offensive improvement:
“It’s about not being complacent and being more fluent in the stuff we run where everything is an instinct and we’re not thinking about what we’re doing. Everything’s a reaction and it comes seamless like that. So we’re working towards that… So yeah the ball’s going through the hoop but we can be a lot better.”
“We don’t have expectations. We are just looking to get better every single day and with that being said, you can’t just say, ‘Hey, let’s get better at this.’ It’s about not being complacent and being more fluent in the stuff we run where everything is an instinct and we’re not thinking about what we’re doing. Everything’s a reaction and it comes seamless like that so we’re working towards that. So yeah, the ball’s going through the hoop, but we can be a lot better.”
On third-quarter performance vs. Nets:
“I think we’re growing as a team. It was definitely a problem for us last year — third quarters, especially the playoffs, were not our friend. So we’re trying to address it as best we can. It starts with the little things.”
On team pride and home court:
“All of us got pride. We want to have the fans going home smiling and we want to protect home court and continue to give our fans something to cheer for.”
“Any time you get wins on the board, it builds momentum.”
On defensive improvement vs. Nets:
“We knew we could play better defensively, and then we did.”
On the system’s progress:
“I think everything we’re doing is still a work in progress and we’re trying to — all of us are trying to figure out how we can impact in the system most efficiently. I’m glad we’re learning through wins.”
On his plus-40 stat line:
“You said plus-40 in [17] minutes? Damn.”
On his performance against the Nets:
“Just going out there and doing what I’m supposed to do. Going out there and playing hard. It feels great. I didn’t even know (I had a +40 plus/minus). I’m embracing it and continuing to get better.”
On his interaction with Josh Hart after fouling out:
“He’s always on me. He made me laugh. I was kind of upset, but he got me right.”
Jordi Fernandez (Nets Head Coach)
On Mike Brown’s impact on his career:
“I wouldn’t be here without Mike Brown. [I have] a lot of love for him as a person, coach, mentor. He brought me from Spain to the US, so I wouldn’t be here literally without him. He also hired me as an associate head coach, and I think it was a big platform for me to get a job as a head coach. It’s not just those two moments, but a long relationship and learning from someone like him who is very successful and a great, great person.”
On the Nets’ poor performance vs. Knicks:
“Just not good enough. We want more and we want better. I’ll be the first one to demand that. And if we don’t get it, then obviously I’m the first one that’s got to take the blame. And I’ve got to look at myself in the mirror.”
“We need to grow really fast. We want to see improvement right now.”