Knicks Bulletin: ‘Three hours of my life that I could never get back’

New York lost. That’s the prettiest thing we can say about yesterday’s game.

The Knicks got trounced on Friday. That’s it, that’s the intro.

New York fumbled the rock embarrassingly, lost 142-105 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and pretty much hinted at what will inevitably happen come April or, in our wildest dreams, May.

Here’s what Coach Thibs and a few other Knickerbockers had to say before and after yesterday’s affair.

Tom Thibodeau

On what went wrong in Cleveland:

“Right from the start, we had the first couple minutes where we’re up, I think five, and then missed a couple of lobs and then if you jog back, there’s going to be a problem.

“And then we got hit quick and didn’t protect the basket, and they got a lot of confidence early from that and then it snowballed from there.”

On Anunoby’s return to the court:

“It’s about what I thought it would be. There was some good minutes early, there’s some rust he’s got to work through, but I thought he had good energy.”

On the Knicks’ resolve:

“Just can’t give in, and that’s the biggest thing. You can’t allow anything to break you. You got to have the mental toughness to get through things.

“And so, there’s got to be a lot more resolve, particularly on the road against the team that is this good, you know?”

On the nature of the season and New York having to face Cleveland on the second night on a back-to-back and Boston two days later on a matinee game:

“That’s part of this league and you got to have the toughness to get through those things. That’s what the schedule says, just be ready to play.”

On the team’s progress this season compared to Cleveland’s:

“I mean, everyone has to run their own race. They’ve been building for a while. They’re having a terrific season. They’re strong on both sides of the ball. Then we have to run our own race. It’s what you do day after day. At the end, how well are you playing, how healthy are you? You look forward to that challenge as well.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On the Cavs’ talent and performance on Friday:

“They’ve got really talented players. It’s as simple as that.

“They’re a really good team. They’ve got a ton of talent… and all of their players made big shots when they needed to.”

On missing key players:

“You’re talking about two really, really good and impactful players on our team, so of course things could possibly be different with them there.

“But it’s a next-man-up mentality.”

Jalen Brunson

On the team’s performance on Friday:

“You can’t explain it.”

On his thoughts after the loss:

“I’m at a loss for words really.”

On the Knicks losing to the Cavs without Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson:

“You can’t say you don’t have him or that, that’s just making excuses.”

On handling adversity:

“I want everyone healthy. That’s what I care about the most. But whatever breakdowns happen, we talk about it for what it is. We don’t say, ‘This wouldn’t have happened if [Mitch or OG was in the rotation].’ Nah. We don’t do that.”

Miles McBride

On the Cavs’ offensive performance:

“Yeah, from the start, I mean, we didn’t set the tone. Dunks, in-the-paint points, kick-out 3s, pick-and-pop 3s. You name it, they did it to us.

“I think every guy on their team, whether they’re coming off the bench or starting, every guy is a threat. And they play that way. So it’s hard to go against them when anybody can break off and go score or they find a mismatch they like and they attack and they’re playing the right way and kicking out.”

Kenny Atkinson (Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach)

On the significance of the win:

“No, no, no. I think we played well, I thought we were focused, but I wouldn’t call it a statement win.”

On how he approached the matchup with the Knicks:

“They’re obviously a really good team, we were at home, but I think we got good feedback on what could work if you play this team in the playoffs. That’s probably the most important thing.”

On Donovan Mitchell’s motivation:

“I don’t have any stats to back this up, but it seems like Don does not like to have two bad shooting nights in a row, and when he does shoot bad, you’re pretty sure that a) He’s going to come out firing and b) He’s probably going to make a lot of them. That’s the competitor he is, and I felt he had a little more oomph today — a little more juice. It’s part of what we talked about before with having lost to this team in the playoffs and wanting to prove yourself.”

On the challenge of facing the Knicks after last season’s gentleman sweep in the playoffs:

“They remember. I’m sure our players remember. They talk about it. It’s one of those kind of challenges you’ve got to get over. It’s not a playoff game tonight, but this is a team that took you out. How are you gonna perform against them? How you gonna be ready for them?”

Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers Player)

On learning from last season’s playoff loss:

“It definitely humbled us. But it was definitely a learning experience, and you’re seeing the product of that right now. It definitely helped us a lot.”

On his expectations for Friday’s matchup against the Knicks in Cleveland:

“It’s going to be a great matchup. Of course, everyone is thinking about the playoff series that we had with them. But we’re two totally different teams. The Rocket is going to be rockin’.”

Stephen A. Smith (TV Personality)

On his frustration with the loss to the Cavs:

“Three hours of my life that I could never get back. It’s just a very, very bad, nauseating feeling right now. To be honest with you, the Knicks made me want to throw up.”