The Knicks being the Knicks are Knicking, of course, going from losing 9-of-11 to winning five consecutive games.<\/p>\n
Coming up next? The Lake Show at MSG on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what your current (and maybe future) superheroes had to say after yesterday\u2019s trouncing of the PDX.<\/p>\n
On pushing through adversity in January:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went through a little bit of adversity in terms of our wins and losses. Our guys just kind of stayed with it. We kept trying to help them as best we could. Those guys stayed with it, they stayed together. This is a veteran group that has been through a lot. They figured out what they needed to do to play at a high level. They\u2019re going out there and showing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the need for connectivity and cohesion:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re trying to stay connected, play off one another. When that happens, good things happen for our team. This is a veteran group that\u2019s been through a lot. They figured out what they needed to do play at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the improved defensive cohesion during the winning streak:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt starts defensively. The way the guys are on a string, that is at a pretty high level. You\u2019ve got to be connected on that end of the floor. Obviously, you\u2019ve got to be connected all the time, but especially defensively. Shots aren\u2019t going to go in all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a work in progress. We\u2019re continuing to try to work at it, try to help them. The guys are a little bit more comfortable with what we\u2019re trying to do, and it\u2019s shown.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019 impact on games beyond scoring:<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, that\u2019s what great players do. They impact the game in a lot of different ways and for him to have 22 against Toronto, and 20 tonight, double-double, it was huge. Six of those were offensive rebounds and we beat them 20-9 on the offensive glass and they\u2019re a very, very good offensive rebounding team.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Jalen Brunson\u2019s defensive approach:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been impressive leading with his chest, showing his hands and trying to play defense the right way with a little chip on his shoulder. It\u2019s not just him, it\u2019s all of our guys that have done that. But it\u2019s good to see him doing it, especially with that scoring load that we put on him on the other end of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
On blocking out trade deadline noise:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand that we have no control over the noise out there, so we have to have a bunker mentality. Not just at the trade deadline but all the time because there is a lot of noise out there. We\u2019re all human and you try not to listen to it. You just try to stay together. You keep moving forward, trying to get better as the days go along and I think that\u2019s what this group is trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
On improving defensive trust and communication:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re trusting each other more. During that skid, during film and all that, we had guys talk and that was one thing I think Deuce said, we gotta make sure we continue to trust each other. When you\u2019re on the ball, trust that the guys are gonna be in the shifts for you. Somebody gets blown by, the big steps up, the big has a trust that the guard is gonna sink into his man, someone is gonna X out. I think we\u2019re just continuing to gain that trust. I think we\u2019re communicating more on the defensive end. You do that, that helps the trust area.\u201d<\/p>\n
On playing to the Knicks\u2019 strengths:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got good depth. We\u2019ve got guys that can score. We\u2019re able to play fast and to our advantages but it starts at the defensive end. And that\u2019s where we\u2019ve improved these last five games.\u201d<\/p>\n
On pace helping New York early in games:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for us the faster we play, especially in the beginning of a game, it\u2019s to our benefit. We\u2019ve got shooters, we\u2019ve got guys that can run the court. So playing fast helps us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On living with trade rumors:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my ninth year in the league. I think I\u2019ve dealt with trade rumors for eight of them. It\u2019s a part of the game. It\u2019s part of being in New York. At times, it can get frustrating and overbearing, but that\u2019s why you don\u2019t really put anything into it because 99% of stuff doesn\u2019t even materialize.\u201d<\/p>\n
On what made the Knicks click of late:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re a little bit more connected than we\u2019ve been. Gotta continue to build off it and keep having each other\u2019s backs. I think, most importantly, our attention to detail. I\u2019m gonna keep stressing that is very important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Karl-Anthony Towns\u2019 rebounding impact:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he\u2019s been doing these past couple games has been great. We need that from him. That\u2019s what he brings to the table. Offensively, when the ball\u2019s not going in as much as it should be, he finds a way to impact the game. I think that\u2019s really important for us. Big-time performance for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
On ignoring trade speculation:<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been in trade rumors a lot for a lot of times, for a year damn near. That don\u2019t matter to me. I don\u2019t look at social media or none of that stuff. I focus on the job on hand, which is trying to get wins every single night. As long as I do that, I do my job, I go home happy and I feel accomplished. I\u2019m not worried about what anybody got to say or people write or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On his mental approach during the Knicks\u2019 turnaround:<\/p>\n
\u201cI was talking to Landry about it. It\u2019s a mental thing. Not worrying about it, knowing that you\u2019re aggressive and trying to make plays on both ends, the basketball gods will bless you at one point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks)<\/p>\n
On the Knicks\u2019 style of play:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve always been a grit-and-grind team. A team that plays hard. Good at every position. Can defend. Just a hard-playing team.\u201d<\/p>\n
On playing at Madison Square Garden:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool playing here. The history that comes with it, it\u2019s just always been a fun place to play.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knicks being the Knicks are Knicking, of course, going from losing 9-of-11 to winning five consecutive games.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[52132,9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-118490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-knicks-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}