The Knicks made history on Friday, scoring 41 points in the first quarter. Make that make sense.
New York plays basketball on Sunday, tip-off set at Noon. It’s an 11 a.m. tip-off in my timezone. Make that make sense.
Here’s what we heard around yesterday’s game.
On Anunoby’s limited minutes in his return:
“It was tough because you always wonder… you get a big lead, you don’t want anybody to get hurt. But we needed to get OG some game minutes to work on his conditioning. He looked good for the time he was out there. I would have loved to get him 25–26 minutes, but 22–23 worked good enough, especially with the way we had the lead tonight.”
On lineup decisions and closing lineups:
“Yeah, they played well together last year. So I did look at that. But again, I’m not, whether it’s right or wrong, not a huge proponent of starting the five guys that are going to end the game. To me, who ends the game is a much bigger deal. But at the end of the day, if something is best for our team, then I’m going to try to go that direction.”
On using lineup data and combinations:
“I look at lineup data. What I try to do is match certain combinations together with their skill sets based on offensively, defensively whether the guy is stronger on this side of the ball or that side of the ball, then trying to keep a certain amount of size on the floor, trying to keep a guy on the floor that can be pretty good on the ball if needed. Those are kind of the things I look for, mixing and matching these different lineups. But I’m not hesitant to look at any data at all. Sometimes the eye test can be wrong just like the data can be misleading.”
On McBride’s defense:
“Our defensive player of the game was Deuce. Deuce has done a lot the past few days defensively. The one thing that he’s been phenomenal at is in pick and roll situations, just one-twoing into the ball and warring over that screen with the ball. Having that type of impact at the point of our defense has been great. He earned it tonight. Not just based on tonight, but the last few games too.”
On trying to find minutes for McBride:
“I was going to start Josh. The thing that was probably the hardest was trying to figure out, because Deuce has played well, but just trying to get Deuce on the floor without playing him like a 20-minute or 17-minute run. Trying to break it up to where, at the end of the day, and obviously with the score what it was, he didn’t really hit it where I wanted him at the end of the day. He deserves to play 25, 26 minutes coming off the bench, if not more. So, trying to find time for him so we can keep him on the floor was my biggest struggle.”
On Anunoby’s absence and team depth:
“It’s a deep team and it’s a diverse team. We mix and match in a lot of different ways. Those are probably the two biggest things. The reality of it is everybody works extremely hard and is trying to stay ready to play, no matter if your number is called or not.”
On the team’s execution against Utah:
“I thought our guys did a nice job. They came out locked in defensively, especially to start the game. I thought we did a good job of moving the basketball and trying to play with pace and spacing. I thought all of our offensive staples were good, while we tried to do what we needed to defensively. … Collectively, that’s a good win for us.”
On responding to a second-quarter lapse:
“We let our foot off the gas a little bit at the end of the second quarter, and I challenged them at the start of the second half, and our guys responded at the start of the third. So, I take my hat off to everybody in the group, and everybody on the team, top to bottom.”
On the Knicks’ 23–0 start:
“I didn’t really notice it. We were just playing. Someone told us later. I didn’t even notice they didn’t score; we were just getting stops and going. So felt pretty good just playing the way we try to play all the time.”
On his return from injury:
“Just try to help in any way possible. Be supportive, talk to my teammates, tell them what I’m seeing, and still help.”
On his shooting stats:
“Y’all are telling me. I don’t pay attention to the numbers, I have no clue. I just wanna do whatever I can do to help the team win, trusting God in the process.”
On teammates finding him:
“Y’all are telling me the numbers. I’m just out there. My teammates are doing a great job of finding me. Feels natural.”
On making an impact regardless of role:
“I really try to make it as minimal as I can. Bring energy, bring a toughness to the game. Obviously, my shot-making ability. The main thing I just want to impact the game, impact winning any way I can.”
On paying attention to the scoreboard:
“I definitely do pay attention to the scoreboard, looking up, especially as a point guard. The starters got us rocking, so it was easy to do my job.”
On the team’s third-quarter response:
“We still didn’t play our best in the second quarter, but the way we came out in the third and just tried to increase the lead, that made up for it. Happy with the way we responded.”
On coaching and playing freedom:
“Jordan is one of one. He is very creative, he has an artist’s brain, almost, and you have to let him go. You can’t micromanage every possession because then you both end up frustrated. I think I told J.C. once that when he felt the moment and got it going, that we would all step back, myself included, and let him do his guitar solo. But then I just asked that 75 percent of the game that he play a song that we all know.”
On the Knicks’ offensive style:
“They’re playing really fast. They’re taking advantage of transition possessions. I feel like the dribble-drive is happening more. We spent all day today talking to our team about how much pressure they’re putting on the paint, what they’re doing to generate catch-and-shoot threes. There are definitely a lot of similarities [to last year’s team] because the players ultimately dictate your style. There’s a lot of Jalen Brunson that looks familiar to me, but I feel like the spacing they’re playing with and the dribble-drive provides some different looks. I think it gives their personnel a lot of opportunities to play off of close-outs, but it’s still early in the season. I would anticipate 20 games from now you see differences from tonight’s game. The dribble-drive is probably what worries me the most.”