New York half-baked its play for the greater part of Sunday\u2019s affair\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026but turned up the heat late and did enough to win another game.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a bunch of stuff said of late by your Knicks superheroes.<\/p>\n
On Robinson\u2019s absence on Sunday and his back-to-back management:<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, he hasn\u2019t played a back-to-back yet. But I\u2019m not talking to our medical staff asking, \u2018Is this going to be like this the rest of the year?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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On Towns\u2019 defensive impact against the Bulls:<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only did he get a double-double, he was great for us defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Towns\u2019 different opportunities and usage compared to last season:<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand it\u2019s something that we need to talk about, and I\u2019m OK talking about it, but until those numbers change, there\u2019s not much for me to say because he\u2019s getting an opportunity. We don\u2019t call a ton of plays. Now, you compare his numbers to last year, [backup center Mitchell Robinson] didn\u2019t play in the regular season. KAT averaged 36, 37 minutes a game. Mitch is playing now. Landry didn\u2019t play last year. He\u2019s playing. We\u2019re trying to get him up to 17 to 22, 23 minutes a game. We\u2019ve got Jose [Alvarado] now. \u2026 So when you do that, guys\u2019 minutes are going to go down. Not only are guys\u2019 minutes going to go down, but guys\u2019 field goal attempts are going to go down and all the things that you see impact the game statistically.\u201d<\/p>\n
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On Yabusele\u2019s fit in New York and lack of minutes:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe position he\u2019s shown he\u2019s best in in the NBA \u2014 the small-ball center spot \u2014 we just didn\u2019t have the minutes consistently for him to be there. And then when he was at the 4. For us, because of our centers, the matchups weren\u2019t always there. So we had to pick and choose when he was on the floor and how we were going to play him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis skill set is obviously as a small-ball center. And it\u2019s picking and popping. And then it\u2019s spacing the floor. And the way we try to play, we try to move a lot. Cut a lot. And then it\u2019s tough because we have [Karl-Anthony Towns] playing heavy minutes, and we have [Mitchell Robinson] playing heavy minutes. This is a situation in Chicago \u2014 and even in Philadelphia [where Yabusele was last season], it was a situation where they were able to find consistent minutes for him. Because he\u2019s a good player. Started for the French national team. We all know what they did. The style of play is a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n
On embracing title-winning expectations:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think as a team, it\u2019s a blessing to have expectations and have high standards. It means we\u2019re doing something right. And last year, we did a lot right. The fans are expecting even more from us with an offseason and another season under our belts with experience and unity and understanding each other. So when we get in those spots in the playoffs, we can find ourselves winning the game. For me, personally, my career\u2019s been full of pressure. I\u2019ve always been held to a higher standard than everyone. I understand that criticism comes with that when you\u2019re not succeeding, and rightfully so. My whole career has been based on me getting that ring and winning. I understand more than ever now in my career that winning trumps everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
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On the Knicks\u2019 unity and sacrifice:<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m so adamant about our team staying together, having that continuity, having that unity. Nothing deterring us or dividing us on this team. It\u2019s a special team, we have a special group of guys. For us to win, it\u2019s going to take all of us to win a championship. I\u2019m so blessed that I\u2019ve got these guys in this locker room and I\u2019ve got my support system, my family, my fianc\u00e9e that are pushing me to another level even from last year to do what\u2019s needed for this team to win. Whether that\u2019s to sacrifice more like this year or like in these last two games, if I\u2019m touching the basketball, I got to make the shots. I\u2019m glad I\u2019ve been able to do that for my teammates and we\u2019re able to win these games.\u201d<\/p>\n
On not using excuses in dealing with back-to-backs:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no excuses. We\u2019re professionals. We\u2019ve gotta come out here and do our job. Our fans expect it. The city expects us to play with tenacity. Tonight, I thought we did a good job of not making excuses and getting the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n
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On his confidence coming from preparation:<\/p>\n
\u201cI work hard on my game. I put the time and effort in, and in my mind and my support system, I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s put more time in their craft than me, and that\u2019s where my confidence has grown from. It\u2019s not from touching the ball in the game. It\u2019s from touching the ball in the empty gym with no light, no fans and my [player development] coach Mark Bryant. So I\u2019m extremely confident in my game. I\u2019m extremely confident mentally that when I do touch the ball, I can do something really special with it. When I touch the basketball, I\u2019ve gotta make these shots, and I\u2019m glad I\u2019ve been able to do that to help us win these two games.\u201d<\/p>\n
On dealing with pressure and having a clear goal in mind:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think as a team, it\u2019s a blessing to have expectations and high standards. That means we\u2019re doing something right, and last year we did a lot right and fans are expecting a lot from us. For me personally, my career\u2019s been full of pressure, and I\u2019ve always been held to a higher standard than everyone, and I always understood that criticism comes when you\u2019re not succeeding and rightfully so. It\u2019s a special team. We have a special group of guys, and for us to win, it\u2019s gonna take all of us to win a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
On navigating the weekend back-to-back:<\/p>\n
\u201cAn 8:30 game and then traveling for a back-to-back game, I think, is outrageous. But happy we were able to get the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
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On Bridges\u2019 offensive involvement:<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess [he does have high expectations given the outgoing draft picks]. At the end of the day, Kal\u2019s gonna do what he\u2019s gotta do. He\u2019s gonna find his way. Like I said, I think there\u2019s times where we can do a better job of making sure he\u2019s involved offensively and aggressive and get him into his spots, same thing with OG [Anunoby[ and JC [Jordan Clarkson] when he plays \u2014 someone like that who can score, we\u2019ve gotta make sure we put him in position to be successful and not just doing it within the flow of the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Bridges\u2019 clutch ability:<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Kal, I\u2019ll let y\u2019all figure that one out. We know what we have in him. We know what he means to the team. And the beauty of him is he can have a terrible game the whole game and make a game-winning play, and I think he\u2019s done that \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t say terrible game \u2014 but he\u2019s done that plenty of times, making game-winning plays late in the game when we need him. That\u2019s why we got him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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On Towns seeing shots fall:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen anyone sees the ball go through the hoop, it gives a level of confidence and makes you feel like you can do anything on the court. Then you shot-fake, they bite, and then you\u2019re able to make plays for yourself or others. For (Towns), it\u2019s a great sign. He\u2019s sticking with it. That\u2019s who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
On pushing back against soft narrative:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at KAT, he\u2019s just running around and he says things in interviews. You think that\u2019s actually how he plays the game. If you really look at the play, he does play a rugged style of basketball. He does bang. He\u2019s just bang, bang, spin, got you. But he just has a shot. And there\u2019s times where if he has a little guy on him, he shoots it. He has a big guy on him, he shoots it. But he will sit there post up, too a little for a big guy, but he\u2019s smart enough to know, well yeah I have a little guy on me. If I try to bang first he\u2019s going to flop, that\u2019s an offensive foul. Well I can just shoot right over him. So I can\u2019t say he plays the game wrong or right. He plays the game how he sees it in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York half-baked its play for the greater part of Sunday\u2019s affair\u2026 \u2026but turned up the heat late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,3628,329,288,2131,327,563,304,1247,6,1136,191,3810,3806,678,6783],"class_list":["post-620346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-knicks","tag-basketball","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-jordan-clarkson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-knicks","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkknicks","tag-philadelphia","tag-yabusele"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116121376723996213","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}