Knicks Bulletin: ‘Josh used to terrorize Mikal early on. Tough and nasty’

Not even New Year’s Eve’s hangover could stop the New York Knickerbockers.

The year might have changed, but the Knicks remain the same. On Wednesday, they beat the Utah Jazz 119-103 to kick off 2025 in amazing fashion, making it nine consecutive wins in the second-longest victorious active streak in the League.

New York trounced the Salt Lake residents without their two best guards available and with their backup being a barely-used rookie who happened to have logged 40 minutes of basketball earlier the same day. That’s your Knicks right there.

Here’s what Coach Thibs and many more people had to say before and after New Year’s game.

Tom Thibodeau

On Josh Hart’s ability to initiate the offense playing point-forward on Wednesday:

“He’s done it since he’s been here. I like the way Josh [plays] because of his rebounding and his ability to push the ball. I think those are the hardest fast breaks to stop. And so we want as many easy baskets as we can get. Want as many layups as we can get.”

On allowing Hart to man the offense and the team’s approach to offensive play:

“We’ve done it since he’s been here. It’s just the initiation of the offense.

“The thing that we want to establish is to play with pace, to get it up the floor fast and then create movement. And once we create the movement, we want everyone playing to their strengths.

“What it does is it gives us another weapon for Jalen. So you have to guard Jalen off the dribble, but then you also have to guard him off the pass. And some guys are better off the dribble and not as good off the pass. We try to take advantage of it that way, and then we get the defense to react to us.

“And I like the way Josh [plays] because of his rebounding and his ability to push the ball. I think those are the hardest fast breaks to stop. And so we want as many easy baskets as we can get. Want as many layups as we can get. And I think he helps initiate that.”

On the team’s defense-first approach:

“It’s just a way to sometimes, I think with Jalen, if teams are trying to pick him up full-court, Josh can bring it up, and he can initiate the action, and we could trigger it that way.”

On the team-wide effort against the Jazz with Jalen Brunson out:

“It’s just a good, hard-fought win. Just find a way to win. That’s what the season is—next guy get in there and get the job done. It’s why it’s a team, and it’s why you work together.

“Everyone has to prioritize the team and make sacrifices.”

On Tyler Kolek’s performance:

“Great. He’s a gym rat. So get in there, make plays. He gave us a good lift.

“He’s young. He’s getting better and better. It says a lot about him.”

On Karl-Anthony Towns’ spacing ability:

“I think Karl is elite because he spaces the floor and gives us that extra dynamic. When you can create that much gravity, it makes everything else easier for everyone.”

On Jalen Brunson’s injury:

“Had some soreness. We’ll see where he is tomorrow.”

On Deuce McBride’s injury:

“Same thing. Had some tightness before the game when he was warming up. I haven’t talked to medical yet. We’ll see where he is tomorrow as well.”

On Derrick Rose’s career:

“His numbers say what he did was incredible. He’s had an unbelievable career. To me, there’s no question he’s a Hall of Fame player, he’s a Hall of Fame guy.”

Josh Hart

On recording back-to-back triple-doubles:

“(Doing) a little more scoring-wise, little more passive making sure we got guys into position on offense. I might not need to look for scoring but make sure [to] get guys in flow and rhythm.”

On Cam Payne’s performance as the starting point guard:

“Great job. He’s a vet. He always stays ready, every game he wants more responsibility, more minutes. That’s what we want from him. Games like this, we’re not worried when JB goes down, we’re good, CP is gonna give us great energy, take good shots, get guys the ball and that’s what we need.”

On whether or not he changed his game with Brunson out:

“My approach is always to go out there and make the right play. Whether guys are in there or not doesn’t matter to me.”

On fixing his past shooting struggles:

“The last several years, I’ve been struggling with my shot. You’ve got to do something, right? I’ve got to have the strength if I’m not knocking down 3s.”

On how Karl-Anthony Towns’ presence helps him:

“With [Towns] spacing the court, I know I’m gonna be able to get to the rim.”

On initiating the offense:

“I’ve always done it a little bit [and] the last two or three years I’ve gotten more comfortable with the number of times I’ve done it.”

On the Knicks seemingly unstoppable improvement:

“We feel like we’re growing. Sticking to what we do. Not making it complicated. Just being simple.”

On New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green helping him improve his playmaking skills:

“He put me in positions to make plays and start plays and get those guys involved. Portland, a little bit also—I’d bring the ball up and get us into a couple plays and obviously here I’m extremely comfortable doing it.”

On the terrorist attack on New Orleans on Wednesday morning:

“Hearts and prayers go out to the people who were affected. I loved my time in New Orleans.

“New Orleans, people who don’t know New Orleans, it’s so vibrant. It’s lively… People travel to go there, to get there to celebrate New Year’s, Mardi Gras, stuff like that. It’s just tragic. Bourbon Street is just a melting pot.

“I loved my time in New Orleans. Bourbon Street, spent my fair share of time on Bourbon Street. So your heart goes out to everyone there, and your prayers goes out to everyone there. New Orleans always has had a special spot in my heart. It’s just tragic what happened.”

Mikal Bridges

On his Villanova days along with Josh Hart:

“He was a bully when I first got to campus. I had nothing wrong with him. He didn’t like me at the beginning. There might have been a little fear of a 6-6 lanky kid who was looking pretty solid.

“I think he had a little fear factor. Ever since that, we’ve been closer.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On playing under Tom Thibodeau in 2025 compared to his days under Thibs in Minny:

“He’s a different man. I like this version going into 2025—you see him smile.

“I’ve grown since the time when we were together in Minnesota, he’s grown. This game of life, we’re just finding ourselves getting better with time.”

On what defines these Knicks:

“We’re gritty. I think we do a great job of finding ways to win even when we’re not at our best.”

Cam Payne

On when he learned he was starting against the Jazz:

“When I was getting ready to do my little warmups. Probably right before they called the lineups. Halfway thought they weren’t going to call my name—I thought they were going to call Deuce—and I was going to have to run out there. Honestly. That’s how close it was.”

On the need to prioritize defense over offense:

“I’m definitely a ‘defense wins games, defense wins championships’ kind of guy.

“I felt like we did that tonight. That’s what we had to do. With [two] guys down, we’ve got to find a way to win games and tonight I feel like it was on the defensive end.”

Tyler Kolek

On playing two games in a single day:

“It’s fun, man, I love playing basketball. Any chance I get, I’m gonna take the opportunity and do it.

“It’s more mental than anything. Two guys go out with injury, gotta step in and be ready to go no matter the circumstances.”

On recovering quickly after heavy minutes in the G League.

“It was good. I had a few hours in between, normatechs. Just tried to do what I could to recover and just be ready to go.”

Will Hardy (Utah Jazz Head Coach)

On the Jazz’s struggles defending Karl-Anthony Towns.

“Playing against Towns is way more of a mental battle because the threes are loud.

“When he makes two in a row, it warps your brain, you start thinking, ‘Man, he’s killing us from three.’ Then game ends and (he has) 31 points, nine from three.

“The threat of the three hurts you more than the three itself.”

On the Jazz’s defensive struggles.

“We did a really poor job protecting the rim and transition was an issue.

“Our collective thought process of protecting the rim as a group wasn’t good enough.

“We can’t rely on one person to protect the rim.”

Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz Player)

On the Jazz’s shooting struggles in the loss to the Knicks.

“You know, 13-of-43 from 3 is not what I would expect, Lauri being 1-of-10 is not what I would expect.

“That’s not to say, ‘Hey, we didn’t make shots,’ and we move on. There’s things that we can learn on both sides of the ball.”

Ashley Howard and Mike Nardi (Villanova Wildcats Coaches)

On Josh Hart’s leadership style:

“Josh used to terrorize Mikal early on. Mikal wasn’t physically where he eventually got, and Josh is Josh.

“The Josh Hart you guys see now, he was that from Day 1. He was fierce, tough, nasty and a competitor.”

On Hart and Bridges’ competitive nature:

“Anytime Josh got his shot blocked and there was a change of possession, the next time Mikal got the ball, whether it was on the break or chasing him down or within the half court, it was like big brother versus little brother.”

On the Bridges-Hart dynamic at Villanova:

“Now they’re going at it. We’re looking at it like, ‘Damn!’ We know Josh Hart is one of the best players in the country, so we know that if Mikal can guard him and make it hard for him, Mikal must be really good.”