The Knicks beat the Nets for the 12th consecutive time on Monday.
At some point, we’ll need to stop calling this a rivalry, won’t we?
Here’s what the protagonist had to say before and after yesterday’s demolition.
On Hart’s defensive effort on Monday:
“That’s what leadership is about.”
On Towns’ performance against the Nets:
“He was really good. We tried to move him around quite a bit. Tried to have him at the elbow, at the post, in the pick-and-roll game. You could say his comfort level is starting to get there.”
On the increasing defensive physicality:
“One of the things we keep talking to our guys about is making sure we’re physical defensively and do it without fouling.”
On Josh Hart and Towns on the boards:
“Josh and KAT were monsters on the glass.12 boards each, and Josh earned the DPOG.”
On the team-wide effort during the Brooklyn game:
“While they’re going though this process, you can watch the last couple of games, they’re playing hard. You could see the marked improvement they’ve had since we’ve last played them.”
On the need for continued improvement on defense:
“We’ll keep working on it. We’ll keep addressing it. Again, we’re gonna be fine at the end of the day cause our guys want it. They have been better. We were better in Dallas. We were even better in Miami. There was a stretch where we were getting better. We’re gonna do this,” he said, gesturing upward, “and then we’re gonna do this,” gesturing downward, “and hopefully we don’t do this too long. But we want to keep trying to climb up, and I’ve seen us climb up in that area. We’re gonna keep pushing them to be great in that area, and they’re gonna keep responding by being great in that area.”
On losing key defenders and how to navigate it:
“They can guard different types of players and positions and we miss them. It’s no secret. But that’s what the NBA is about. It’s about trying to find a way every time you step on the court. It’s the next man up and everyone has to contribute, when it comes to missing whoever whether it’s offensively or defensively. They are both high level on ball defenders. Their impact we do miss … Both those guys are high level on ball defenders and they play with a level of physicality without fouling and versatility.”
On load management for Mitchell Robinson being impacted by his agent:
“[Knicks VP of Sports Medicine Casey Smith] is the one who dictates it along with Mitch and doctors and Mitch’s agent. So whatever they tell me, I’m just recycling what Casey says to Mitch, but I try to communicate with Mitch as much as possible.”
On the need for a greater defensive effort amid injuries:
“I’m confident we can be where we need to defensively. We played well in some instances and we haven’t played well. That’s what you go through especially during this part of the year. So I do think we can be a really good defensive team, but again, no matter who we throw out there, we’ve gotta have a feel and understanding of what we’re trying to do on that end of the floor to get things done.”
On playing a complete game:
“Shooters shoot, of course. I know everybody wants me to shoot the 3-ball. But I’m a more complete player than that. And a lot of times, my career shooting the 3 allows me to get to the basket and opens the game up for myself and my teammates. And tonight was a good night where attacking the paint, getting some layups, tough layups, whatever the case may be, opened the basket up for me and made the 3-ball much easier.”
“I’ve had slumps before. So experience teaches me a lot. So just keep shooting, keep trusting the work. It’s an opportunity for me to tell young guys. Obviously, the shot hasn’t been falling. But I continue to show up to work — first one there, last one to leave — and just continue to believe in the work. I know it’s disappointing to not see the results everyday to your standard, but never change the grind. … It feels good. And it raises the confidence.”
On his fall late in the game and how it felt compared to years past:
“When I was in my 20s, I felt pretty good.”
On missing OG Anunoby and others:
“OG is one of the best defenders in the NBA. He’s highly valuable to any team. Missing him is big. And Deuce not being available. And Landry getting hurt obviously hurts our team.”
On starting for the first time this season:
“I had to switch the routine I had pregame.”
On Towns’ performance on Monday:
“He was great; we needed him to be aggressive. That’s what we need from him.”
On team defense and accountability amid the current injury crisis:
“[We just have to] continue to try to keep the ball out front. That’s the start of it. Obviously we have to help each other out when it comes to rotations, but it starts with just guarding the ball. I mean, I’ve got to do a better job of [guarding the ball], clearly. No matter what the situation is with the coverage, we’ve got to have each other’s backs and we were just a step late.”
On playing the right way:
“We want to play a competitive and winning game of basketball. It starts with the habits. I know he saw the ball go in, which are things you can’t always control, but you can control taking the right shots, make the right play. He had a 9-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is very good. So all those things are positive.”
On the Nets’ effort fading on Monday:
“We started with the right intentions, and the energy was there. Then as the game went on, I thought that our energy and purpose started to fade. There’s no excuses here with playing three in four nights, doesn’t matter. You’ve still got to come out with a purpose and sustain it. And we did come out with a purpose and we didn’t sustain all the way through. So winning the first quarter and the last quarter, that’s not enough.”
“Yeah [Towns] is a very good player, and we have to find ways to fight him better. We tried, it just didn’t work out very well for us. He scored 37 points and 12; just not good enough. Credit to him. We definitely should have been better.”
On the Nets’ offensive approach:
“When we came out instead of trying to get the quick points in transition and playing in the flow of the game, we immediately slowed down and went into half-court sets instead of what we were doing to keep us in the game in the first place. That’s a common trend. We don’t really want to slow down with a team like that and just play half-court execution versus execution game. Get the free ones and get ourselves and advantage.”
