The Knicks escaped embarrassment and talked about it after beating Brooklyn.
New York hosted the Nets and barely edged past them, 124-122, at Madison Square Garden in the first meeting between both teams this season.
With the second round of the fight coming Sunday, this game was all about Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges on Friday. Contrary to Mike Tyson upsetting audiences worldwide, JB and MB made us all enjoy the final hours before the weekend proper.
Here’s what a very angry Coach Thibs and some other Knickerbockers (and Swamp Dragons) said before and after defeating the Nets.
Tom Thibodeau was asked what he saw on the OG Anunoby-Dorian Finney-Smith double technical and the officiating tonight:
“I see what’s going on and I don’t like it.” pic.twitter.com/iRlINCsv1N
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) November 16, 2024
Tom Thibodeau
On Friday’s officiating:
“Don’t get me started.
“We’ve been a low-fouled team for a long time now. I see what’s going on and I don’t like it.
“It can’t be the physicality that’s being displayed on Jalen [Brunson] when he’s bringing the ball up the floor with the grab, the hold, all that stuff.
“I don’t care how they call it. They can call it tight they can call it loose but it has to be the same for both teams.”
On Jalen Brunson’s guts to hoist the game-winning shot following a failed attempt on Wednesday:
“That’s sort of the nature of the league. That disappointment and then to bounce back to find a way to win at the end… speaks volumes to who he is.
“To have the resolve to take that shot and make that shot. To have the courage to do it again, it says a lot about the team.”
On Ariel Hukporti’s performance:
“Ariel came in, gave us great minutes. I thought the third quarter was pretty good [for Hukporti], and going into the fourth we had some rough minutes there at the start. We have some stuff we could clean up.”
On his players performances on Friday:
“Jericho [Sims], really good job starting. Pacome [Dadiet], great minutes. Tyler [Kolek], really good minutes. Cam Payne really good.
“Can’t say enough about OG and Mikal, and of course [Hart’s] hustle.”
On trading for Mikal Bridges and his fit:
“Obviously, we felt he’s a good fit for us. He’s been a good player in the league for a long time, so we just liked the fit.”
On Precious Achiuwa’s rehab process:
“He’s reevaluated every day. So yes, he has been reevaluated.
“The depth of it, I’m not sure. I know they’ve increased his activity. I think that part is good.
“With the hamstring, we just want to make sure it’s not a problem that will linger.”
Josh Hart talks about Mikal Bridges’ impact on the game:
“We’re happy for him. He got traded for five 12th-graders, so we’re good” pic.twitter.com/mTEhjqEDUS
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) November 16, 2024
Josh Hart
On Mikal Bridges’ performance on Friday:
“He gave us good energy offensively, defensively.
“People are trying to put pressure on him to be perfect. The beauty of Mikal is he’s going to go out there and he’s going to find ways to impact the game—even if it’s not making shots.
“We’re happy for him. He got traded for five 12th graders, so we good.”
On Mikal Bridges’ trade being put in doubt:
“I just think [Bridges] is five times better than me. But nah, the thing about these trades—especially trades like this—you can’t judge them now. You have five first-round picks, no one has any idea what those first-rounders are going to be, what they’re going to look like, who is available. So I don’t think there’s any pressure.”
On the Knicks’ results to date:
“We’re trying to find (our best version). And sometimes when you’re trying to find it, it doesn’t come as quickly as you want.
“You can get frustrated, and those frustrations affect your energy level, those kinds of things. We’ve just got to understand at the end of the day we’re not going to be the best we’re going to be in game 10 or game 12.
“That’s not the goal. The goal is to be the best team we can be in the last game of the season. Hopefully that’s in June, obviously. We can’t get too frustrated with it. We know it’s going to take time.
“The benefit, at least right now, the benefit of the East is that we’ve been trash this first 11 games and I think we’re fourth in the standings. So East got beat up a little bit early. I guess that’s the benefit to us.”
On Ariel Hukporti’s performance:
“Huge. Energy. A presence on the screens, protecting the rim, rebounding the ball, deflections, running the court.
“The thing about a rookie is, for him, the hard thing is to continue to have the energy and not being complacent.”
Mikal Bridges
On the game-winning block:
“It felt nice. I had to lock back in after JB made the shot.”
“Just happy he was able to do that.”
Jalen Brunson talks about Mikal Bridges’ late block to secure the Knicks’ win: pic.twitter.com/ljOhRxhepp
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) November 16, 2024
Jalen Brunson
On the team’s mentality after giving up a huge lead:
“We’re gonna fight. That’s just us. That’s our identity.”
On Mikal Bridges’ game-saving block:
“Just happy he was able to do that.”
On Ariel Hukporti’s performance:
“He looked really good out there and the way we were able to find him in certain opportunities. He made the most of his opportunity tonight and I’m proud of him. We’re proud of him.”
Cam Payne
On Bridges’ defensive role in New York:
“I think (it’s been a slow adjustment) because we got so many defenders, so sometimes he’s not on the ball all the time. Sometimes he gets off the guy because we have so many guys who defend.
“I don’t necessarily think he has a problem with it. I think he does it just fine. If he had to switch off of it, I know he’s fine. I know he’s not stressing it.”
“It was just great to see my teammates succeed.”
Ariel Hukporti talks about playing in the closing minutes of tonight’s win: pic.twitter.com/Ze3tiGuE56
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) November 16, 2024
Ariel Hukporti
On his performance in New York’s win:
“I still got to work on a lot of things. I learned a lot today. I’ll learn from my mistakes and keep going.”
“I didn’t know what I did”
OG Anunoby was asked about his double technical and how frustrating it was to foul out: pic.twitter.com/hgciqkOqXo
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) November 16, 2024
OG Anunoby
On fouling out on Wednesday:
“Yeah, I didn’t know what I did. It was pretty frustrating. But we won.”
Rick Brunson
On the need to give Pacome Dadiet time to develop:
“If you take a young kid, like [Dadiet], the guy we just drafted. You take him—to me, you got to give him a window. A college window. Four to five years. You can’t give up on a kid who is going through his college years in the NBA.”
Jordi Fernandez (Brooklyn Nets Head Coach)
On having to play strong until the final whistle:
“You’ve got to keep saying it over and over and doing it over and over. It feels like, if there’s 100 possessions in a game, you do it for 99, that’s not good enough. We have to do it for 100 and do it together.
“A lot of times I think the NBA is mentally tough. Because you struggle mentally. A lot of times, people think, ‘Oh, you guys have to be so tired.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s not physically. It’s mentally.’ It’s tough. Especially when you’re young. And the veteran players, they just know how to do it.
“I think we’re getting there. Right now there’s 12 games in and we have 70 left.”
Cam Thomas (Brooklyn Nets Player)
On Friday’s loss and Sunday’s rematch:
“We play them again on Sunday. So we can get some redemption. Can’t wait for that.”
On seeing Tom Brady at the Garden:
“He gave me a little look when I hit a 3. That really was a good moment for me.”