Knicks Bulletin: ‘Truthfully, let’s be honest, it’s about the bed’

Three losses in a row make up the worst losing skid of the season.

If you’re a Knicks fan, this should be a good time to start sounding the alarms.

New York dropped an awfully winnable game to the Orlando Magic on Monday in a despairing effort that saw the boys score the fewest points this season in a 103-94 loss at MSG of all places.

Here’s what Coach Thibs and a bunch of Knickerbockers said before and after the game.

Tom Thibodeau

On the Knicks’ low-energy performance against the Magic.

“I don’t want to say a lack of effort because I think guys were trying. But we played low energy and we couldn’t get anything going, and so we have to get our energy back, and that’s a big part of this league.

“Things change quickly, and so we’ve got to make it go our way. Sometimes you’ve just got to dig down and find a way to win the game, and we fell short in that area today.”

On leaving a heavy road-schedule behind and playing 12 of 14 games at home next.

“Overall, we just went through a pretty tough stretch in terms of where we were in the schedule. I think we’re plus-6 to the road, five of the last six on the road. So now we got a chance to go home, and obviously, there’s a lot of things we got to work on and clean up. We get a chance to go home. But it’s a good challenge for us.

“There’s a lot of teams playing right well now that are coming in. So we got to take it day by day, game by game. Don’t look too far ahead. Get our legs under us and get a chance to get in the gym and fix things and work on things and continue to improve. I don’t want us to get away from the way we mapped out the season.

“And that’s to focus on daily improvement. And don’t get lost.”

On the importance of conditioning for a long NBA season.

“The more time you go through it—you understand how important that is.

“To continue throughout the course of the season you’re building up to go a long period of time, you condition your body to what you want to do. And the players that are serious about their craft make that commitment and understand how important that is.

“Early on, until a player goes through it, he doesn’t fully understand what an NBA schedule looks like. I think that’s why you see the commitment players make in the offseason where they stay in great shape so they can endure a long season.”

On Mitchell Robinson’s recovery process.

“He hasn’t been cleared for practice. That will probably be the next step. Just doing his rehab stuff. There’s a lot of benchmarks he has to clear first. Once he does that, then he’ll get onto the court.”

Josh Hart

On the Knicks’ inconsistent energy.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to figure out what kind of team we’re going to be.

“Are we going to be a team that’s high energy and happy when you make shots? And low energy when we don’t? Or are we going to be a team that goes out there with energy every game?

“Games where we’re not making shots, we still have that energy and still have execution, that grind, where we’re able to get wins.

“It’s an 82-game season. We’re not going to have energy or make shots all the time. But we’ve got to make sure we find a way to win basketball games.”

On the low-energy performance against the Magic.

“It was a low-energy game. We didn’t get stops how we’re supposed to. We didn’t run how we’re supposed to. We didn’t feed off our defense and make our job offensively easier. We just didn’t execute.

“At the end of the day, we’re out there for 48 minutes. We’ve got to find a way. If we’re tired, we’ll have days off after, but while we’re out there for 48, we’ve got to find a way to win.”

On the Knicks’ poor shooting from deep of late.

“It’s an NBA season. There’s going to be peaks and valleys. We’ve got to make sure we are focused and give off the right energy.

“We can’t have our own individual agendas. Got to make sure we’re locked in on this team”

On travel fatigue after the back-to-back stretch.

“Obviously the travel is always tough. When you do that you don’t realize how nice it is and what an advantage it is to sleep in your own bed.

“Last night I don’t think I went to sleep until 4 a.m. with the travel and the craziness. So it’ll be good. Really just rest up. I think that’s the biggest thing. We don’t have to worry about traveling or anything like that.”

Jalen Brunson

On the Knicks’ poor energy and execution of late.

“It’s unacceptable on our part. I don’t know why. Ball’s just not going in for us, but that shouldn’t be the reason why we’re not winning games.

“We got to find a way to impact the game in other areas when we’re not making shots like that. It starts with me.”

On the team’s perceived tiredness leading to a loss to the Magic.

“We can say that, but it’s not an excuse of why we lost tonight.

“We don’t say we were tired, that’s not who we are.”

On the benefits of the upcoming home stretch.

“It’s a time for us to be home, get some practice time in. Get some more time together where we’re watching film and in the comforts of our own home facility with the fans.

“It’s just scheduling. We’ve got to take advantage of it.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On trying to push through his knee injury before ultimately getting ruled out for Monday’s matchup.

“I ain’t going to quit. That’s not my M.O. I want to keep going. I looked at Jericho [Sims], he pointed at me, I pointed at him, and said let’s go. I wasn’t going to quit. I don’t care how I feel. I’m not going to quit on my teammates.”

On his late-game and-1 play against the Bulls.

“I got hit. I was going to go for a dunk. Saw [Chicago’s Coby White] was probably not going to give it me, and then I switched hands, tried to do my best Michael Jordan impression. It hurt. Really all I saw was an and-1 that was too late to help us win. Honest to God I didn’t even know I made it.”

On the challenges of NBA travel.

“With NBA players that’s the biggest thing about travel is not being in the same bed we purchased, we know is the best for us, we love the most. I think that’s the end of the day that’s what we really miss is being in our bed.

“I know everyone’s got kids and wives and stuff. I agree. If I had kids, I would be on the same type of time.

“But truthfully, let’s be honest, it’s about the bed.”

Jamahl Mosley (Orlando Magic Head Coach)

On the Magic’s resilience in an upset win over the Knicks.

“I’m so proud of this group for continuing to battle [and] fight, different guys stepping up [and] stepping in. No matter what happened last night (Orlando lost to the Jazz on Sunday), you take those lessons and learn from it.”