Knicks Bulletin: ‘He likes to hear himself talk’

The Knicks won in Philly as is always the case and lots of New Yorkers spoke about it.

The Knicks ruined Joel Embiid’s season debut, as the NBA put it, beating him and the Philly Cheesesteaks hard on Tuesday inside Wells Fargo Garden. Final score, 111-99.

New York found a way to stay awake during the final 12 minutes of play—contrary to what they had done in three of their past four matches—and conquered Philadeladelphia to start their NBA Cup run with a victory and move to 5-5 on the regular season.

Here is what Coach Thibs, a few Knickerbockers, and a few Liberty Ballers said before and after Tuesday’s affair.

Tom Thibodeau

On the importance of defensive intensity and teamwork through the first quarter on Tuesday:

“We did a great job in the 1st quarter getting our defense going. Now we just gotta continue it for the next 36 minutes.”

On Hart being “lost” during the preseason:

“A lot of what he says you gotta let go in one ear and out the other. He likes to hear himself talk.”

On individual contributions in the win over Philadelphia:

“KAT’s aggressiveness was good. OG’s been unbelievable. Mikal was great as well. Deuce gave us good minutes.

“Good solid team win.”

On Josh Hart’s impact against the Sixers:

“Josh had a monster game in all areas. The way he playmaked, the way he rebounded, the way he defended, and that helped set the tone for us.”

On introducing Matt Ryan in the rotation:

“I almost [played him] last game, but he just got here and because we had six of seven on the road, there hasn’t been a lot of practice time.

“It’s going to take him a little bit of time for him to get up to speed. But he’s smart and he’ll pick it up quickly. It’s good to have that.”

On what can help the Knicks reach the next level:

“Mikal takes on whoever the primary ball handler is and he works at it all game long and keeps coming. I think that says a lot about him.

“And [Hart] is going to hustle and get the loose balls and push the pace and do what he does.

“If we do that and everyone commits to their strengths and playing defense, we can be good. But we know right now we are shorthanded, so we have to play real hard and rebound the ball.

“We have to do that as a team. If we do that, good things will come from it.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On his daily mindset:

“Getting a win. Really, that’s it. There ain’t no other thing to talk about. Put something in the left column. Be better versions of ourselves than we were last game.

“Listen, all I’m worried about is finding a way for us to win a game. For us, we’ve got to figure out how to string wins together. We lose a game and then we have a decisive victory where we show the world what we can be when we’re locked in.

“We’ve just got to be locked in every night.”

On readapting to playing the center position after not doing it in Minny with Rudy Gobert there:

“It’s an adjustment. Got to adjust, all of us are trying to get more acclimated with each other. It’s a team game.

“Myself and all of us included we’ve just got to be a better defensive team. We’ve shown glimpses of what we can do, especially like the Milwaukee game, playing against a high-level team where we’re firing on all cylinders defensively.

“We’ve got to bottle up that kind of defensive intensity and execution and take it into every single game.”

On beating the Sixers and Embiid’s presence:

“I know we know about the talent Joel Embiid has, where he ranks, superbly talented.

“I just wanted to go out there and do what I could to help us win.

“[I] found myself early on. [I] hit some shots, gave us a little bit of life, a little bit of energy. I just always want to bring that to the team.”

Josh Hart

On KAT and the Knicks dealing with a half-cooked Embiid:

“Obviously Joel is a great defensive player. But first game back, it takes you a little while to get into the rhythm.

“[Towns] did what we needed him to do, came out of the gate [and] got a couple of threes, attacked the rim. He set the tone early, got big rebounds and we kind of fed off of that.”

On how the Knicks are managing early-season criticism from outside:

“We’re just 10 games into the season. We’ve got all of you [in the media] all crying about how we look, offensively, defensively.

“Some people ready to pack the season in, some people saying we lost our identity. We don’t listen to it.

“At the end of the day, we know what we have and it takes some fine-tuning.”

On his thoughts about the NBA Cup:

“It’s fun. It gives these games a little bit of a different energy. For the crowd, players have a little bit of a different energy. There’s some extra money on the line. So it’s fun. It’s something that’s a really good idea.

“The only thing I hate about it is the point-differential element. I think in our last game against Charlotte (last season, a 24-point win) you had some of your main guys in there when you’re up 25 with four minutes left. So that’s the only thing I hate about it.

“But it’s fun. It brings a good energy to the start of the season.”

On the importance of team defense and everybody contributing to the unit:

“Just because we have great defensive players doesn’t mean things are going to be perfect or things are going to be great from the start. So we know that.

“We know it takes time to jell offensively and defensively. But the biggest thing at the end of the day is we have to come out with a sense of physicality and energy from the start. Not let teams get into rhythm and focus on that. We got to make sure we take guys out of their game plan.”

Jalen Brunson

On playing in Madison Square Garden:

“Feels good to always leave here with a win. Love this place.”

Nick Nurse (Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach)

On facing a retooled Knicks lineup (before the game):

“I think obviously both teams have changed quite a bit since that playoffs, and they’ve added two guys who can really play.

“Those guys [Towns and Bridges] are both really good players, both got a really good perimeter game that we’ve gotta be mindful of.

“I guess we’re gonna have to wait and see.”

On Embiid’s condition after his return:

“He was certainly rusty. Conditioning I think showed up fairly early. Seen him play through that before, kind of respond in the second half, after being on a layoff.

“Seemed to do it a little bit, then I thought he got kind of tired again in the fourth. But again, probably to be expected. I thought he played with some pretty good competitive spirit for what he could do out there.”

On the Sixers’ cup court:

“I like the blue court a lot better (than last season’s red design). But that’s not saying much, in my opinion.”

Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On overcoming his knee issues:

“It’s all about confidence and trusting myself. Pushing off… I talked about it a couple weeks ago when I talked to you guys, that’s the mental hurdle that I got to get to.

“I think I can still be pretty good even without that, which I’m going to get to at some point. I don’t know when. Might be next game, might be in two games—usually get it back pretty fast, so I’m fine.”

Paul George (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On lessons learned from Excuses 101:

“The season’s long.

“I do think once we get all of our pieces together we will start making strides in the right direction.

“We’ll start to get some consistency and the chemistry will continue to take off.

“Right now, it’s Joel’s [Embiid] first game back, Tyrese [Maxey] is still out, so we’ve yet to see this team complete. Those are big pieces for us.

“We’re all trying to do a little more than we’re supposed to be doing, which is OK because we’re trying to fill in big voids and big gaps.

“Once we’re full strength, I think that’s when we can judge how we are.”

Kendrick Perkins (Former NBA Player)

On his concerns for the Knicks:

“My blood pressure is high when I watch the New York Knicks.

“Are they dangerous in figuring things out? Yes, they do look great offensively.

“They have Karl-Anthony Towns. He’s been putting up big numbers. But this is a Tom Thibodeau-led team. His teams are known for what? His teams are known for being pests defensively and being one of the best defensive teams in the league. These Knicks that I’m watching? That’s not it!

“And it’s concerning.”

Shaquille O’Neal (Former NBA Player)

On the Knicks’ struggles:

“I think the Knicks are in trouble. I think they lost their identity—they have no rim protector.”

On Embiid’s hopes for lifting the Larry O’B:

“This was the fear I had for Joel Embiid. You announce arrogantly, ‘I’m not playing back-to-backs. I’m not injured but I’m sore. I’ll come back when I want to come back.’

“Now, when you say things like that, you’re supposed to come back with extra energy. 0-for-3, I would have been 0-for-15. But you know what y’all would have said. ‘Hey, Shaq’s not playing well, but he’s playing aggressive.’ The plan that they are having — it’s not working. And not only that, I say this respectfully.

“Joel Embiid will never win a championship until he gets his mind and his attitude right.”

Stan Van Gundy (Former NBA Head Coach)

On the Sixers’ management of Embiid’s minutes and health:

“Really significant for Philadelphia because what are they gonna do with Embiid and Paul George in back-to-backs? I would not think that Philly would play Embiid [Wednesday] night having just come back. But you got yourself in a little bit of a hole at 2–7. You have 15 back-to-backs, how many more games do you want a guy to sit out when he’s healthy?”

On the Sixers’ playoff aspirations:

“You’re talking about wanting to be ready for the playoffs. The first thing is, you gotta be in the playoffs.”

On Embiid’s need to play games to build conditioning:

“Right now, look, you gotta give him games to get back in it. There’s nobody can get ready to play NBA basketball without playing NBA basketball.”