Regular-season series sweep for the Knicks, on Mitchie’s 27th birthday, woohoo!

In the least shocking of developments, the Knicks beat the 76ers by a score of 105-91 on Tuesday and swept the regular-season series against Philly.

New York did it without Karl-Anthony Towns but with a lively Mitchell Robinson playing on the day of his 27th birthday. Let’s celebrate!

Here are the tiny soundbites we missed from the last game against the Blazers on Sunday, ahead of tonight’s matchup.

Tom Thibodeau

On Landry Shamet and Mitchell Robinson vs. 76ers:

“Landry and Mitch gave us a huge boost tonight with guys being out.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s offensive rebounding:

“We need that pressure. Those extra possessions are huge for us.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s defense and team effort:

“Mitch’s defense was a huge factor in the third quarter. The ball pressure, the rim protection. When you have somebody like that out there, then everybody gets more aggressive.

“[OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges] are playing at a very, very high level. [Hart] did all the things he normally does. I thought Delon [Wright] gave us great minutes. And then I thought our bench was really good.

“Looking at what Mitch brought to the game, what Precious [Achiuwa] brought to the game, Landry [Shamet], Tyler [Kolek], it was huge for us.”

On Karl-Anthony Towns’ absence and status:

“We’ll take it day by day.”

On the MSG crowd chants for PJ Tucker to enter the game late, something he didn’t do:

“Just veteran leadership. Come in and be a good voice for the team.”

On what makes Josh Hart so valuable to the Knicks and his hustle play against Philly:

“His presence of mind.

“It was a timely play. It was a much-needed play for us. It sort of gave us momentum going into the fourth. But that’s what Josh does. He makes plays like that to get the team inspired and get you going.”

On the Knicks’ chances at getting back any of their injured point guards during the next two road games:

“I’m always hopeful. I’m the eternal optimist.”

On tying Pat Riley in franchise wins:

“I think all that stuff, it’s a byproduct of having great players. You share that with your team. So all the individual stuff, it’s really not that important.

“Obviously, I have great respect for Pat Riley and certainly Jeff for what they’ve done in their careers but the history of the franchise, great coaches, great players, organizationally–what it represents–it’s an honor to be here.”

On former Knicks hooper Quentin Grimes:

“He’s had great moments in the league. He’s playing, he’s got great rhythm. He can shoot the ball, he can put it on the floor, he’s dangerous in transition.

“He’s making good plays off the dribble, defensively, he’s terrific. Very dangerous player in the open floor.”

Mitchell Robinson

On slowly-but-surely getting back to full form just in time for the playoffs:

“I feel like I can.”

On getting to his conditioning and rebounding peak ahead of the postseason:

“Still got a lot of work to do, you know what I mean. But as of right now, I mean, it’s heading in the right direction.”

On his goals for the remainder of the regular season:

“Still got a lot of work to do. I need to be able to play like seven minutes straight. But, been working on the conditioning stuff still so, we rollin’.”

On playing under a lighter weight this season and thriving at it:

“Way lighter now.

“All that extra weight that I was carrying last year and the year before that was just keeping me down.

“But now, (I’m) lighter, and I feel better.”

On his readiness for playoffs:

“The way I’ve been working, I feel like I can. That’s the goal. I’m just going to continue to keep working, work on my conditioning and keep going.”

Josh Hart

On his coast-to-coast layup:

“I saw I had 3.3 seconds and I thought I was going to be a little more athletic than what I was, a little faster than what I was. I thought it was going to be a regular layup.

“Once I got to the 3-point line, I was like, ‘I’m not going to get there.’”

Landry Shamet

On guarding the 76ers:

“They are a hard-playing team. They weren’t going to go away.

“Really aggressive off the dribble—makes it a challenge to guard one-on-one all night.”

Nick Nurse (Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach)

On OG Anunoby’s offensive growth:

“I think he’s always felt he could score more and get more chances on offense and things like that. It just has to be at the right time, right place, right situation. He finds himself in a situation where they need him to score more.

“He’s played great. I think with Jalen out, some more of the focus shifts to KAT, and then he’s [made] people really pay for that.”

On Quentin Grimes’ usage and conditioning:

“The biggest thing is he’s on the court all the time. We’re in a situation where he’s playing about as much as he can handle, you know, like, probably, sometimes you go over that point sometimes. Then obviously, lots of opportunity on the offensive end to just kind of go do what he can do.”

On Grimes’ shot creation and scoring ability:

“Been super impressed with just his one on one, the ability to get clearance, get shots, and get space. And also mix in some high-efficiency — like he’ll get all the way to the rim. He’ll dunk on you. He’ll just shoot the threes. He’ll create his own shot, pretty good. So I’ve been pretty impressed with that.”

On Grimes’ availability and his evaluation of him as a player:

“My excitement level this year has a lot to do with availability. We’re in a situation where he’s playing about as much as he can handle, like probably sometimes we go over that point. Obviously, lots of opportunities on the offensive end to just kind of go do what he can do.”

On not truly knowing Grimes’ fit within the 76ers because of the injury-laden roster:

“I think you have to figure out how that fits with what you possibly could have. In our ideal world, he’s not getting this many attempts when we have our three main scorers playing. But in the real world, those guys are in and out. So maybe he can play one role one night and then steps up a role in certain situations.”

Quentin Grimes (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On fitting alongside Embiid, Maxey, and George in the future if he re-signs in Philly:

“I mean, just playing my game. Whatever opportunity presents itself.

“I obviously showed that with New York and Dallas, and showing a little bit both out here, trying to do whatever I need to do to help the team win, honestly.”