Knicks Bulletin: ‘That’s what I’m here for, that’s what I get paid for’

Trae Young ate an L for the 15th time against New York.

In a completely unexpected turn of events, Tom Thibodeau expanded the Knicks rotation from eight to nine men and played Mikal Bridges for only 27 minutes in Monday’s 119-110 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Read that again if you don’t believe it because we’ve witnessed true history. Also making history on MLK Day: Trae Young losing to the Knicks for the 15th time in the regular season, the most among all NBA players since Trae entered the League. Bad luck.

Here’s what Coach Thibs and a few other Knickerbockers said after yesterday’s game.

Tom Thibodeau

On Mikal Bridges’ defense on Trae Young:

“To guard Trae—he’s such a tough cover. And there’s a million pick-and-rolls you have to defend. Sometimes you can defend them really well and he can still make a shot.

“So I thought [Bridges] was really disciplined. You have to be that. And he kept going.”

On Bridges’ defensive effort:

“The thing you appreciate about what he does is he does it every night. Every night there’s a tough cover. He doesn’t run away from it. He embraces it. That’s what you need.”

On the Hawks’ defensive versatility:

“The thing, the way their team is built, there’s a lot of versatility. They do a lot of switching. Like Daniels will switch with [DeAndre] Hunter and [Jalen] Johnson. And then when [Onyeka] Okongwu comes in, [he] gives them another guy they can switch with.

“So they’ve got good versatility in terms of what they can do defensively and then we have to read that.”

On Jalen Brunson’s outing on Monday:

“He’s always going to come through. I feel like at any given time, he’s capable of having a big night.”

On team-wide defensive responsibilities:

“When you look at what’s being asked of [Anunoby], he’s a primary defender [with] versatility so I think that you condition your body to what you want to do. So it’s a credit to him [for] what he did in the offseason.

“The same can be said for Josh and Mikal. When you look at Jalen and KAT, their average minutes are well below what most primary scorers’ are and that’s a credit to them.”

Cam Payne

On his technical foul during the Knicks-Hawks game:

“I’ve been praying to get that call for eight or nine games. [The official I said something to, Danielle Scott] saw the play but didn’t call it. Somebody else called it. And I was a little upset. I was fired up. I was like, ‘You were right there and you didn’t call it.’ I didn’t think I was going to get a tech for it. But she heard me. It was OK.”

Mikal Bridges

On playing against Trae Young:

“Me and Trae always have battles like this for years. There’s like trash-talking and I think it gets both of us going.”

On playing fewer minutes due to the expanded rotation:

“It’s nice man. We got a lot of players, 1 through 15. So it’s good.”

On his defensive stop against Trae Young and the crowd’s reaction:

“I was just trying to get a stop. I know he’s crafty and didn’t want him to score and I know my teammates have my back and just trying to guard him. I heard the Garden. It got loud.”

On his approach to guarding opponents:

“That’s what I’m here for. That’s what I get paid for. And like I always said, I got my teammates behind me so it’s never just me against that guy. So it’s just team defense and try my best to try to disrupt.”

On Karl-Anthony Towns’ defensive adjustments since joining the Knicks to play at the five:

“That’s one thing–KAT, you know, he’s been the 4 for a while and been on the perimeter playing with Rudy [Gobert]. Him being up helps the team’s defense and helps the guy on the ball getting back.”

On facing the Nets in Brooklyn on Tuesday:

“It’ll be just good to be back. To see my teammates and the coaching staff that was there for a couple months before I got traded. See the staff and everybody. Good energy.”

Josh Hart

On expecting Knicks fans to fill Barclays Center:

“Oh yeah, it’s one of our home games. It’s one of our many.”

On whether the Knicks needed to respond to Trae Young’s dice roll gesture:

“I’ll let Knicks Twitter have fun with all that stuff.”

On his lingering injury:

“It’s been lingering for two weeks but [Friday night] was the one that really did it.

“I think if I get hit in my shoulder or back, it will hurt like hell. But hopefully if I do get hit—hopefully, it doesn’t lock up for a duration of time.

“But I can deal with that pain.”

On his collision with Jericho Sims leading to his injury:

“I didn’t run into Jericho, I got pushed into Jericho. But it was that play.”

On Bridges’ defense against Trae Young:

“He was feeding off of that. We need him big time, offensively and most importantly defensively. It was a good game for him.”

Jalen Brunson

On the Knicks’ win against the Hawks:

“It was a big win for us.”

On staying motivated no matter whether they’re facing Gambler Trae or anyone else:

“To be honest, whenever we play in front of this crowd there’s no extra motivation.

“This is the best place to play. We don’t need inspiration.”

On cooking Dyson Daniels while praising his defensive effort:

“When you see something like [Daniels’ pressure], you’re trying to make the right play. He was pressuring up, so I was trying to obviously get the ball over half court, use his aggressiveness against him, and I was able to get a foul.

“The dude’s been playing well all year, and the way he’s been playing, it’s been noticed around the league.”

On reaching out to the Hawks bench after Dyson Daniels fouled out:

“I just said that was six fouls. That’s all. Just stating a fact. In all honesty, he’s a great defender. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. With trash talk or not, being competitive, that dude can hoop.”

On the need to build better habits as a team:

“We did a lot of good things today and things that we can build on. But we have to build on them. We can’t say that we want to build on them and then take steps back. But I think even if obviously we lose but we’re still building the right habits we can live with that.

“We’ve got to continue to create the right habits.”

On to taking advantage of the remaining home games:

“With the stretch of games that we have at home, we’ve got to finish out this month strong.

“Regardless, it was a big win for us.”

On Bridges’ defensive effort:

“Being able to play through pain, that’s just who [Hart] is, and he’s always been like that.”

Deuce McBride

On Bridges’ approach to guarding elite players:

“It’s the league. Every night is gonna be somebody different, and I feel like for him, he’s just a person where it’s like, he’s gonna do whatever he can to slow them down.

“I feel like his approach to every night knowing that he’s gonna have that challenge has been great for us.”

Quin Snyder (Atlanta Hawks Head Coach)

On Jalen Brunson and the Knicks:

“It’s tough to beat the Knicks on the road. They played well tonight, shot well… Brunson and Bridges in particular.

“Jalen, he’s a hell of a player. He’s capable of making tough contested shots. And he did that tonight.”