Knicks Bulletin: ‘I should have hit him with the chair’

Jalen Brunson remembers what happened last May so he might now hit ’em with the chair.

It’s been a minute, but hoops are returning home for the New York Knicks home opener later on Friday as the Orange & Blue skies will witness the rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Knicks had to endure Ring Night for their season opener in Boston but that evening and that loss are more than in the rearview mirror with New York aiming at finishing the season 81-0 starting tonight.

Here’s what your beloved Knickerbockers said after Thursday’s practice in Tarrytown as well as on podcasting platforms.

And shouts out to the indisputable W champs, your New York Liberty!

Tom Thibodeau

On what went wrong against the Celtics on Tuesday:

“A compilation of things from A to Z defensively: how we guarded the ball, our body position, challenging shots, giving up second shots.

“So we’ve gotta clean that up.”

On facing a strong team in the Indiana Pacers on Friday:

“You know they’re a terrific team. They play fast. They could hurt you in transition. They could hurt you with the three. And then they have quality depth.”

On whether or not he expects better second efforts against Indiana:

“Yeah, I do.”

On the importance of learning something from every game:

“The games reveal exactly where you are, it tells you the things you need to work on, and even if it’s going well, if you have slippage, you’re gonna have to sort it out.

“So it’s constant throughout the course of a season, and that’s why you go in wanting to understand why you won or why you lost, make the necessary corrections and move on.”

On playing in front of home fans for the first time this season:

“I think the start of the season is always, you look forward to that. You know, certainly we have great appreciation for the Garden, our fans, the city.

“So, you know, we want to give them something to be proud of.”

Mikal Bridges

On his playing his first game at MSG donning the Knicks jersey:

“Excited, man, really excited.

“I mean, I felt the energy in the preseason games. So just excited to go out there and get an opportunity to go get a win.

“It’s gonna be real fun.”

On building chemistry and a team culture:

“I think we’re just trying to find our identity, find it as a team and our culture as a team. So it’s just all being together, trying to find our culture and what team we wanna be.

“Focusing on building chemistry together, just every day in practice. Every day when we do dinners and stuff and hanging out, especially on the road with hotels and stuff.”

On having to improve his game and play better on defense:

“I think it starts on ball. So I think it starts with being aggressive on ball, putting pressure, coming off ball screens and from there, and then flying around and being on their toes, being right there and about to shoot.

“So [it] all starts with the beginning, guys coming off the ball screen, and they generate offense like that, putting pressure on them so they don’t get easy passes, make them higher passes so teammates get a chance to get back out there.”

On not worrying about the Celtics hunting for the 3-point record:

“We just needed to get a rebound.”

Jalen Brunson

On team accountability after the Celtics game:

“Just as a team, we did not show up. And that, it starts with me.

“Practice harder, be better at it. [It’s] reps and honestly just being better. It’s as simple as that.

“You can talk about X’s and O’s, but you’ve just got to start the game [better]. We didn’t show up. We have to [build chemistry]. We have no other choice if we want to be a good team.

“A lot of accountability. We have the personality to do it. Like all things, it’s going to take time.”

On Tom Thibodeau’s coaching and his impact on player development:

“A lot of people in this organization, what I’ve seen with Thibs, they don’t really stay linear. They take the next step.”

On the Pacers matchup and seeking revenge:

“A big challenge. It’s a team we lost to last year. I mean, they have our number. So we’ve just got to be ready to go.”

On his WWE appearance along with Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton:

“I should’ve hit him with the chair.”

On recalling last season’s Game 7 loss to Indiana:

“A lot of people said that we were getting blown out. But I remember in the second half we were making a little run. And then obviously I broke my hand and the game ended, losing by double digits.

“You can always say ‘what if,’ but they won and we’ve got to live with that. We’ve got to move forward.”

On what playing at MSG means for him:

“It’s been unbelievable every single time. So I don’t take things for granted whatsoever.”

On supporting the Yankees in the World Series:

“It would mean a lot (winning the WS), it would for sure make my mother really happy. She’s a huge Yankees fan. I wish them nothing but the best, seriously I wish I could go to the game.”

Josh Hart

On his dislike for playing on Ring Night:

“It sucks… Playing on ring night sucks. First off, nothing in the NBA starts on time. It says 7:30, tip-off is going to be like 7:43… It’s just like an extra 15 minutes.

“For them, obviously, it’s dope because they get their rings, the atmosphere, the environment is going to be crazy. But for the opposing team, it just sucks, you’re just sitting there adding another 15–20 minutes to the warmup.”

On Halloween costume plans changes following Donte DiVincenzo’s trade:

“If we didn’t trade Donte we could’ve done the Four Musketeers or Ghostbusters, but we don’t have four anymore.

“I mean, (we could use Karl-Anthony Towns). But we also have to have outfits that fit. He won’t fit a Ghostbusters outfit.”

On his worst and best Halloween costumes:

“My worst was probably when I just didn’t feel like dressing up and they be like, ‘Who are you?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m Josh Hart.’ But I’m like in high school.

“My best was probably Dwight Schrute—that was either my first or second year in the league. That was probably my best one.”