Knicks lost. Pistons won.
On the Pistons’ rise in the East:
“It’s great. They did a good job with it. They obviously drafted well and tried to develop the right pieces. From afar, that’s what it looks like, and when they hired J.B., I just knew it was going to happen because of who he is and his relationships with players and all that other good stuff. So, they’re set up for a long time. With players and with J.B. as their head coach, as young as their players are, they can go on a long, long, long run.”
On the blowout loss in Detroit:
“They kicked our behind, starting with me. We all got our behind kicked. The Pistons are a good defensive team.”
On evaluating regular-season losses:
“I don’t look at regular-season games as a barometer because, come playoffs, it’s a different basketball game. Especially when you talk about a seven-game series. I’ve been with different teams that went to the finals or played deep in the playoffs that lost the season series to teams and still won in the playoffs. I look at it as it’s our next game. It’s very important. These guys handed our lunch to us last time. And so, we need to come fighting. Those are things I’m looking for tonight. I don’t look at it like if we win, hey, we’re going to get them come playoff time. Or if they win, they’re going to get us come playoff time.”
On the excitement of adding Jose Alvarado:
“He just brings a level of toughness to the team, his energy is unmatched. What he can do defensively in the full court and even in the frontcourt on the ball especially on pick-and-rolls and stuff like that, is at a pretty high level. He shoots it better than most people think. We want to play fast and we believe he’s a guy who will come in and push the pace. Get us into our offense and all that other stuff. Because he is quick, he’s got a low center of gravity. Been around for a while, he’ll touch the paint and make others better. We’re a big spray team and he should be good in that area too. So excited to have him.”
On his offensive struggles in Detroit:
“Obviously, I missed a lot of shots. We missed shots as a team, as well.”
On rejecting fatigue as an excuse for the Pistons loss:
“It’s not an excuse for what happened today. They played last night. We had a day off. Obviously, we traveled. But there’s no excuse what happens prior to the game. You got to come here, you got to be professional, you got to do your job. But we just didn’t do our job well enough tonight.”
On Josh Hart’s toughness amid another injury:
“He’s a gamer. He’s going to do whatever he can to help his team win, regardless of how he feels or whatever. It’s just who he is.”
On staying focused despite other teams’ trade-deadline moves:
“Just focused on us.”
“We are a team. This is a team. It is a team of 15 guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to win the game. I don’t want to say I am a starter and he is a backup. That is not right. He could be a starter on any other team. We just have a system that has been working during this winning streak, and we are just trying to maximize everyone’s talent.”
On facing more competition after the Alvarado trade:
“There’s always competition in this league. Obviously Deuce is out for a little bit. We’re trying to be a championship-level team so you bring in as much talent as you can. I’m going to compete every single day. He’s going to compete. Everybody on this team is going to compete for minutes. So it’s no slight to anybody.”
On adjusting a new role with Deuce McBride out:
“Try to do the same thing I’ve always been doing. Do whatever the team needs from me, whatever the coach needs from me. When I get in there, change the pace. Get guys the ball.”
On trade deadline stress:
“It was not much. I feel like there wasn’t a lot of talk about myself moving. I feel like that would’ve been a little bit more stressful and more weight on it.”