Knicks Bulletin: ‘At the end of the day refs are going to make mistakes’

New York lost and Thibs and Hart talked refs.

New York had a couple of days of rest between the Motown Mauling and their matchup against the Rockets in Houston.

Not even that extra rest helped them spot the NASA Mob on the road as they dropped this one 109-97, falling to a 3-3 record in the early stages of the regular season.

Here’s what Coach Tom Thibodeau and a few players said before and after Monday’s loss, as well as a detailed commentary about their free-throw tendencies, courtesy of The Athletic’s James Edwards III.

Tom Thibodeau

On the Knicks‘ struggles against switch-defense, and Towns vs. Brooks in particular:

“We’ve seen that before. KAT can play in, he can play out. So that shouldn’t—it’s part of the league. With the amount of switching, you see that stuff all the time.”

On Alperen Sengun’s offensive skills:

“He’s so crafty—multiple fakes, great touch, can play away from the basket, deceptive, changes speeds, knows how to create space to get a shot off…

“You have to be disciplined, stay down, be the second jumper, and then we have to be active with our reads in terms of our help.”

On the controversial foul call on Josh Hart in the second half:

“I thought the big play was Josh’s foul. It looked like a clean steal to me. I thought Josh beat him to the ball.

“Sometimes, it goes your way; sometimes, it doesn’t. It just didn’t go our way, I guess.”

On Tyler Kolek’s potential:

“I really like [Kolek] a lot. I think he’s learning like most young guys coming into the league.

“He’s a gym rat. Works extremely hard. Puts a lot of time into film study. Extra work. Practice.

“He’s around really good veterans. That helps move it along in terms of how you learn.

“Then a big part of it is the trial and error of getting out there and doing it. So I think he’s putting everything he has into it. So we’ll see.”

Josh Hart

On offensive strategies with teammates:

“It’s just read and react. We’ve got [me who] will cut. Mikal is a really good cutter. OG [Anunoby] is a very good timing cutter. We know obviously there will be a lot of back doors for JB with teams trying to overplay him. So it just comes with the feel. I think we’re in game six, certainly learn more every game [about] guys’ tendencies and where they like the ball.”

On officiating, after getting called for a dubious foul against the Rockets:

“I mean at the end of the day refs are going to make mistakes.

“We didn’t agree with a lot of the calls that they had. There was some that they missed—we let that dictate our energy level.

On the Rockets gameplan to beat New York:

“We’ve got to give [Houston] credit. The coach (Ime Udoka)—he’s obviously been in winning situations.

“He always has a tough, physical, hard-playing team. That’s what they did.”

On his free-throw routine:

“I take three dribbles for The Holy Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The spin after is kind of just random.”

Jalen Brunson

On their defensive struggles in the loss to Houston:

“We missed shots. We didn’t get stops. We weren’t together on the defensive side. So, let one slip away.”

On having to do more on days like Monday:

“We can’t say shots weren’t falling and that’s why we lost. We need to be able to win games when shots aren’t falling.

“I think we thought we fought a good amount, just not enough.”

On reading the defensive moves and reacting on offense:

“We’re just reading the play. We see something, we attack it. We see another opening, we attack it again.

“We’re not scripting anything. We’re just reading and reacting, trying to help each other.”

On the need to improve their switching offense:

“We need to be better with our switching offense. That’s just plain and simple. We need to be better.”

On creating his own free-throw routine:

“When I was growing up, free-throw routines were really, like, a thing. So, I had to make my own.

“Honest, probably (had it) since elementary school.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On his passing ability and distributing on offense:

“It’s a part of my game, something I’ve worked on since I was young.

“We have great talent around, they’re cutting really well, so it gives me a chance to utilize that talent. So shout-out to my teammates. They’re the ones making it happen.”

On changing his free-throw routine:

“I was watching Kobe (Bryant), the way he was shooting, the way he was minimizing energy used at the free-throw line. I played a ton of 2K to get that free-throw style down. You think I’m joking? I’m deadass serious.”

On mimicking Kevin Garnett’s free-throw routine:

“I take a deep breath, relax my shoulders, like Kevin Garnett taught me when I was a rookie, two dribbles, perfect placement on my hand.”

Miles McBride

On his simple free-throw routine:

“I don’t need to be up there showing off my handles.”

OG Anunoby

On his casual approach to free throws:

“I don’t even know (his routine). I just do stuff.

“In high school—I don’t even know how many dribbles—I think I did way more than two.

“It’s just making a shot. It’s not that hard.”

Jacob Toppin

On keeping his free-throw routine simple:

“I just know that I’m an overthinker, so I just do one dribble and shoot it.”

Tyler Kolek

On his free-throw routine:

“Some guys can stand up there for 10 seconds, and their mental gets messed up.

“I think less is more with that.”

Cam Payne

On his free-throw routine’s origin:

“That’s what my dad taught me when I was younger (to take some time).

“Some people want to get the shot up fast, but the deep breath can settle you, calm you down and put you in that one spot.

“Because I do so much with my routine, I don’t have time to overthink the shot.”