Knicks Bulletin: ‘He’s doing more, but he’s not quite there’

The Jazz halted New York’s winning streak, and everybody agreed bad defense was the cause.

The Knicks found it hard to get going yesterday, then nearly got all the way back in the fight, but ultimately collapsed, losing 121-106 to a Utah Jazz squad that has won four games this season.

New York kept their road trip going with a cupcake matchup but succumbed to the Salt Lake Musicians without giving any sign of knowing how to defend a man.

Here is what Coach Thibs and a few Knickerbockers said after this disappointing affair, prior to boarding a plane destined for Denver.

Tom Thibodeau

On the Knicks’ flat performance and defensive issues on Saturday:

“We were flat. We started slowly.

“We had a couple chances to get back. Every time we got it down to like five, we gave up an easy shot.

“There’s going to be nights that you don’t shoot it great. You need your defense and your rebounding to carry it. What you can’t do, you can’t allow missed shots to take away from the energy that you need from your defense.

“You have to win games different ways. So the nights in which you’re not shooting well, you want your defense, your rebounding and your low turnovers to carry you. And if you do those three things, you’re going to be in position to win regardless of how you shoot the ball.

“Some nights, no one shoots the ball great for 82 games. If you’re not shooting well, just do other things that can help us win.”

On the lack of rebounding and not finding the proper offensive rhythm against the Jazz:

“We didn’t rebound well enough. We took care of the ball. I thought we forced turnovers which did get us into the open floor, that was good.

“But we need more easy baskets to sort of get us into the rhythm.”

On the all-defense, no-offense narrative surrounding him and his coaching style:

“Well, I think that rarely do people do the homework. So it’s a narrative, whatever the narrative is, you tend to be, everyone’s put in a box. So it’s, you never let the facts get in the way.

“We had a top-five offense in Chicago (when he coached the Bulls), and had a top-five offense in Minnesota (at the helm of the Wolves).

“I think people try to—there’s a lot of narratives that you could create around certain things. And I always feel like, whatever the strength of your club is, that’s what you should play towards.”

On Cam Payne and Jericho Sims’ contributions:

“We were low energy and I thought that those guys give us energy, they gave us a good boost—sort of got us going. I almost went back to Sims at the end.

“You’d rather be playing from the lead, I think that’s important. We were chasing all night.”

On Deuce McBride’s injury:

“He’s close. He’s doing more, but he’s not quite there. We’ll see where he is tomorrow.”

On Lauri Markkanen’s skill set:

“Terrific. Multiple positions, highly skilled… Can shoot it, can put it on the floor, can post, can move without the ball, creates matchup problems.

“Gets better every year. So he’s very impressive. Everyone liked him I think coming out of college, and he’s proven to be even better than what everyone thought.”

Mikal Bridges

On sitting out the final 10 minutes of the loss to the Jazz:

“Obviously, I was struggling, but our biggest thing is to win. Cam (Payne) came in and he was playing well. He was part of that team that was making that run.

“So I was more just frustrated that I couldn’t be out there to help the team and frustrated that the first three quarters I was out there, I couldn’t really do much. But yeah, I understand it.

“We’re trying to win a game, and that’s all I care about, so I think that was the right decision.”

On struggling offensively vs. Utah and his lack of defensive impact:

“It’s easy when you’re making shots—you can play defense. So we just gotta find a way when we’re missing.

“There’s gonna be them games. Just get through it.”

Josh Hart

On the team’s struggles against the Jazz:

“We’ve been struggling on the defensive side for the whole season. When you’re not making shots and you’re not playing well defensively, that’s a recipe for disaster.

“We’ve got to figure it out on the defensive end. Offensively, we’ve got enough talent on the offensive side where, even if certain guys aren’t going that day, to play well and to win games.

“But we’ve got to figure it out defensively.”