Knicks Bulletin: '"It is what it is. Simple as that'

Yesterday at 09:00 AM

Will the New York Knicks win two games in a row in the 2025 years of our Lord?

The loss to OKC might have been the worst of the season for the Knicks but the game they dropped on Monday against the Pistons, considering they did so on back-to-back carbon-copy plays committing the same mistakes, was embarrassing at best.

New York lost back-to-back games to Motown, Monday's 124-119 defeat being quite damaging because of the awful late defense the boys went with.

Anyway, here's what Coach Thibs and a few Knickerbockers had to say after yesterday's disappointing game.

Tom Thibodeau

On Cade Cunningham's outing on Monday:

"He had a terrific game. That's the way he's been playing, and he puts a lot of stress on you and everyone's got to be tied together.

"Beasley had a hot hand, and we've got to be there on the catch."

On the lack of depth and the Knicks' bench being outscored once again on Monday:

"We have more than enough."

On his players complaining to referees leading to defensive trouble:

"You can't complain if you feel like they missed a call. If you jog back and you're talking to an official, it could be three points [on the other end]. It's a long season. No one's perfect. The officials—it's a tough job, very tough.

"There's emotion in the game, there's frustration, but you also have to understand the pace that the game's being played at.

"You can't afford to complain. You can make a point on a dead ball to an official. They're usually pretty good with that, but if you're doing it when the ball's live, now you're at a disadvantage on the other end, it becomes a five on four and it becomes an open 3 or a layup, and then at the end, maybe it's a one-possession game. You have two or three of those in a game, that can be the difference in winning and losing."

On the team's steady improvement through the season:

"I think we're better than we were when we started. There's ups and downs, and you have to handle that. You've got to get through things together, but you never can lose sight of how important it is to improve every day, and then hopefully at the end you're playing your best basketball. There's still a lot of things that we can do better."

On the importance of daily improvement:

"During the season you're going through a lot of different things. So you have to navigate through everything and have the focus be on daily improvement. Some days you fall short, you have to come back with determination to get things right.

"So it's a long season and the whole idea is to keep working each and every day with the thought in mind that you want to be playing best at the end of the year."

On Mitchell Robinson's recovery:

"He's doing some light shooting right now. (Sprinting) is the next step."

On Brunson deciding to play through his injury:

"Dr. Brunson made the call (to return on Sunday)? Obviously, a player has a lot of say, but the medical people also have to weigh in on that.

"We don't want to put him in harm's way. I think he knows his body pretty well. We got a great medical staff. We trust them."

Jalen Brunson

On the Knicks' inconsistency:

"Offense wasn't the problem tonight. Defensively, we just gave them a lot of confidence."

On what went wrong against the Pistons:

"Turnovers. Obviously, not getting to Malik Beasley fast enough in rotation. But all things we control. So it's tough."

On the Pistons' late-game execution:

"And Beasley, who was shooting great all night, got two easy looks."

Josh Hart

On the Knicks' defense after the Pistons loss:

"Defensively we've got to be better. Yeah, we've just got to be better."

On the team struggles of late with five losses in six games:

"We've got to find a way to bring energy and execute. We can have all the excuses in the world. We've got to go out there and have a sense of urgency, communicate better."

On fixing issues midway through the season:

"We're losing games I feel like we shouldn't be losing. So we've got to figure it out. We've gotta start figuring it out. We're halfway through.

"There's nothing we can do about the first half now. But if we want to be the team we're trying to be at the end of the season, we need to start correcting stuff now."

On Jalen Brunson's All-Star candidacy:

"He's going to be an All-Star. I think he should be a starter. I think he should garner that level of respect."

Karl-Anthony Towns

On what went wrong against Detroit:

"They hit shots when they had to. We could sit here and talk about all the things we could've done. We just didn't do it.

"Cost us in the end."

On if he has any idea of an injury diagnosis:

"It is what it is. So that's really it."

On whether or not he got any kind of tests on the injured thumb:

"Ah, It is what it is."

On the thumb injury making it hard for him to stay in the game:

"It is what it is."

On how tough it was to grip the ball:

"It is what it is, simple as that."

On getting X-rays following the game:

"Like I said, it is what it is."

Isaiah Stewart (Detroit Pistons Player)

On player in front of Patrick Ewing at MSG:

"Growing up I wore 33 because of Patrick Ewing, so to see him sitting sideline, being right there, you can't explain it."