Who would have thought the Knicks would beat the Grizz… on the road, not least!
Get-right game got New York on the right path again as the Knickerbockers are one win away from reaching 50 dubs for the third consecutive season.
Two more wins, and Coach Brown would match Thibs’ best record in just his freshman season on the Knicks sideline. Bananas!
On the Knicks showing some urgency on Wednesday:
“It’s good to have that mindset.”
“A game like that, it’s always tough if you play against a group that’s free and can attack and has nothing to lose. But our guys at the end of the day, we were good in a lot of areas.”
On the rebounding effort against the Grizzlies:
“A lot of good performances from our guys, we were able to make it up in terms of the times that they went to the free throw line and our turnovers by offensive rebounding. OG had three offensive rebounds, KAT had six offensive rebounds. KAT had a triple-double tonight, which was great. And especially in 30 minutes of action, and then OG, for him to get 13 rebounds. A big, big night to get a double-double. We needed every single one of those rebounds.”
On Landry Shamet’s return:
“He’s arguably one of our, if not the best, on-ball defenders. Especially when it comes to ball screens and dribble handoffs. He’s really physical in that area. And you feel him. His pace offensively creates gravity for others. And then his ability to shoot. He can string together two or three 3s. And it can create separation for him and give our group confidence. We had to find other ways. But we missed that from him, especially from his size.”
On encouraging Miles McBride to keep shooting amid his post-comeback struggles:
“If you’re open, let it fly. I even told him this before, I don’t care if he’s 0-for-15. I just want him to feel the aggression, get to his spots.”
On the need for accountability:
“Regardless of being veterans or not, we got to turn the page and do something about it. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the league or not.”
On the Knicks’ true-talent level showing up on Wednesday:
“I feel the team we have, a lot of guys able to shoot, drive. I’ve been talking about this since last year. We got a lot of talent that can do a lot of things. Just got to share the ball and play off each other and try to make the right reads.”
On the first-half offense vs. defense against Memphis:
“It was good. We were sharing the ball, all that stuff. I think defensively we could’ve been better, still gave up a lot of points. Offensively, we were sharing the ball, moving well. But defensively, we could’ve done better.”
On the second-half mild letdown:
“I’m still not happy about us in the second half not locked in and them making a run. They play hard. A good young team. But I think it’s unacceptable for us.”
“Hopefully, I have kids one day and I’ll brag about it.”
On ending the road trip on a positive note:
“It’s great. It doesn’t matter about the triple-double, double-double, as long as we get a win, something that has been escaping us in the last week. Good to end the road trip on a high note so we can go back home to our fans where we’re comfortable and we get that energy from our fans and hopefully make it a two-game winning streak.”
On the good ball movement in the win over Memphis:
“I thought we did a good job moving the ball. I thought we did a good job of playing with a point-five mentality and doing everything we needed to do to beat a good team, and a hungry team with a lot of guys trying to prove themselves in this league. I thought we did a good job of weathering the storm. We understood they’re going to play hard. They’re going to play well, and we found a way to win.”
On how he handles double teams:
“When they’re double and triple teaming, I understand that one of my teammates is open. Just staying patient, staying relaxed and trying to make the right play. I was disappointed with the turnovers I had today, but I’m glad that I was able to find my teammates more than not and we were able to come out with a win.”
On regrouping after the three consecutive losses heading into Wednesday’s game:
“It was a group effort to regroup.”
On feeling fatigue on his return:
“I was definitely a little tired at the end of the game. The legs — that’s obviously the biggest thing. You can do all you want to stay in shape but playing a real NBA basketball game, that’s like the next layer of your rehab or whatever. You just got to get reps and get your legs back under you. So I felt really good. Just naturally a little heavy at the end. But that’s alright.”
On his fourth-quarter scoring:
“I was shooting the same shots, but they were just going in.”