Knicks Bulletin: ‘It’s nice to have a good, talented team’

New York hosted and defeated Brooklyn twice, and the Knicks had all sorts of positive comments on it.

The Knicks beat the Nets twice in three days. Shocker!

New York hosted Brooklyn on Friday and narrowly escaped a fourth-quarter scare, but the Manhattanintes gave the Brooklynites no chance in Sunday’s affair, defeating them without breaking a sweat, final score of 114-104.

Here’s what Coach Thibs and a few other Knicks and Nets said after their second regular-season meeting.

Tom Thibodeau

On playing the Nets twice in three days:

“Playing the same team twice, not easy to do. To come out, play hard on both sides of the ball, I thought our rebounding was good, defense was good.

“So just keep going, keep getting better.”

On Karl-Anthony Towns’ early career and his steady improvement:

“I had him when he was young. We’d do shooting drills and he wouldn’t miss any. Wasn’t quite as strong as he is now. Didn’t have the experience. Now he has that.

“He’s a student of the game. He keeps adding. He’s seeing the whole floor now. His passing has really evolved. He’s always been a team-first guy, but now he really sees things. He understands what the defense is trying to do.

“Initially, like most young guys, the vision was more narrow. Now he sees more than one guy. He sees everyone, and that goes a long way.”

On OG Anunoby’s offensive contributions in the early season:

“OG’s a really good player because he can shoot the ball, he can move well without the ball.”

On Jalen Brunson’s shooting struggles on Sunday and his contributions elsewhere:

“That’s what I love about Jalen. He’s gonna keep going. And the most important thing to him, he doesn’t care if he’s 3-for-25.

“As long as we win, Jalen feels good, and that says a lot about him, and we have a number of guys that are like that.”

On why he chose Jericho Sims over Ariel Hukporti on Sunday:

“When you look at Jericho, he’s No. 1 among centers in defensive field-goal percentage in the restricted. So I know what he provides there.

“Then his screening and ability to put pressure on the rim, it’s a different type of pressure. KAT can play away from the basket but Jericho is going hard to the rim.

“And then what it does also allow us to do is to switch more. He’s got great feet. So that part is good.”

On what he saw from the team with Pacome Dadiet on the court:

“The intensity is different in the fourth quarter. Our young guys have to go through it first.

“I think the more they go through it, the better they’re going to understand that intensity.”

Josh Hart

On all other Knicks stepping up to make up for Brunson’s lack of scoring:

“One time in the fourth quarter, I looked up, and [Brunson] only had like eight points. And we were winning by like eight or whatever it was. I was like, ‘It’s nice to have a good, talented team where we’re not so reliant on JB scoring and creating and doing all those things.’

“It’s not so much pressure on him to knock down shots. Sometimes he can take a couple breaths, a couple possessions. And we can still hoop.”

On Karl-Anthony Towns’ passing ability:

“I thought he was just a shooter and a scorer. He’s kind of surprised me with his passes.

“He’s a willing passer and we like to play through him. He likes to make sure the passes connect. He can be as flashy as he wants as long as they come through.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On his fall and possible back injury:

“It’s all good, it’s all good. 29 [years old] is just a little different… I’m not gonna lie to you.”

On his availability for Monday’s matchup:

“That’s always the plan: To play.

“I’m going to do everything I can to play. It just didn’t work out for me [on Friday, his birthday], and that’s unfortunate because I would’ve loved to play in front of my family.

“But God is good on a Sunday.”

On his career evolution:

“I think I’m the best version of myself that I’ve been in my career.”

On having Magic Johnson as one of his childhood idols:

“I was a big fan. Just watching the way he made his teammates better.”

OG Anunoby

On leading in dunks for non-centers this season:

“I usually am (atop that leaderboard), honestly. Toronto I was, too.”

Jordi Fernandez (Brooklyn Nets Head Coach)

On dealing Karl-Anthony Towns:

“On our end, we’re not concerned with [Towns]. We’ll play and fight against whoever is in front of us, and whether we have more centers or less centers, we’ll find a way to respond.”

Cam Johnson (Brooklyn Nets Player)

On defending Karl-Anthony Towns:

“I think the big moment in the game was when Karl started to score in that third quarter, and demand a lot of attention, and now it’s stressing us out defensively.

“So that’s the problem they present.”

On being on the wrong end of Mikal Bridges’ celebration:

“It’s annoying. It’s very annoying.”

Tom Crean (Former College Coach)

On OG Anunoby’s potential:

“He’s shooting it at a high level, he could always defend at a high level, I think he’s getting better with his driving and decision-making.

“When he’s on the attack and driving long close-outs, because of what they have, he can make even more plays for guys.

“And I think when the game gets moving, it gives them another guy that’s a legit decision-maker off the dribble.”

On Anunoby’s physical condition:

“I think he’s playing with confidence, I think he looks really good. I told him today, ‘You look really lean.’ He said, ‘I’m always lean.’ I said, ‘Well, you look leaner.’ I think he’s moving well. He never gets out of shape.

“Ever since the injuries that he’s had in the past, he never wastes an offseason. He’s non-stop, whether he’s in Atlanta, whether he’s here [in New York], whether he’s in L.A., wherever he’s at, he’s training. And a lot of times, it’s twice a day. I think with him, he never stops working on improving and I think it shows.”

On the Knicks’ roster and adjustments with few new pieces added into it:

“First and foremost, you never pick up from where you left off, even if you have everybody back. And then when you make the changes they made, especially as close to the season, that takes time. That takes legitimate rhythm. You just need time to figure out everybody’s movements.

“It’s not as much about the sets you’re running or the actions you’re running, it’s about having a feel for where guys get the ball, where you deliver the ball to them, and the offensive rhythm.

“When you’ve got guys who can switch the way they can, and with the fact that OG can play so many positions defensively, and what that can do for their team to go along with Bridges, I think that’s huge.”

On the Knicks being true contenders in the East:

“Oh absolutely. Everybody’s gonna get better. Over a period of time, when you have what the Knicks have, I don’t have any doubt they’ll be really good.”