Knicks Bulletin: “Just take it like a man.”

Barely one basketball possession worth of time separated the Knicks from clinching their presence in the second round of the playoffs on Tuesday, wasting our time and making us wait until Thursday. Alas.

The Sixers miraculously escaped MSG alive and will live to host one more postseason game before the calendar flips to 2025. Philadelphia will enter Game 5 down 3-2 and facing elimination for the second time in three days in what could be another home-on-the-road contest for New York if all goes like it did the last time the Knicks visited Cheesesteak Arena.

Here is what the protagonists of Tuesday’s affair had to say after the game.

Tom Thibodeau

On the final plays of the game and the OT loss on Tuesday...

“It was a tough way to lose because you get up six, eight and then we had a couple turnovers and we’ve got to just be better. Play tougher with the lead, use good judgement. Fourth quarter is different, understand the difference. So we can do better and we will.”

On the late miscommunication about intentionally fouling Tyrese Maxey...

“What you have to do is, they’re out of timeouts, so they’re going quick. But you also have to read what’s happening. Is he making both? That puts you up four? Is he making one? That puts you in a different situation. If he misses both that puts you in a different situation. So you’re communicating that to your players but you’re also, you’ve got to make sure that that’s being communicated to people on the line, too. That’s where our communication has to be better. If you miss two and you say foul, everyone’s got to be aware and alert to what’s going on.”

On moving on to Game 6...

“Whether you win or lose, we have to have the same routine. Come in, make corrections, find the things we have to fix and fix them.”

Josh Hart

On Jalen Brunson’s late-game decisions...

“I’m not gonna say [that play] was the end of the game, but I guess he thought he had enough space for the shot. And then Batum probably closed the gap a little quicker than he thought.”

On Tuesday’s Game 5 loss...

“Extremely tough. That’s a game we should have won. But now all we can do is watch film and regroup and get ready for the next game, whenever that is. Our mindset now is get a win. I think it’s nothing different. Nothing changes in preparing ourselves or the objective. That’s the same.”

On the fourth quarter miscommunication and failing to foul Maxey intentionally...

“We didn’t relay that. And I think that’s an error on the guys on the court. We got to make sure we know what the situation is. But we can’t do anything about it now. Got to regroup, watch film and see what we could have done better. And get ready for the game.”

On missing a crucial free throw late on Tuesday’s game and how tiny margins are in the playoffs...

“If I made both, we win. So you know what the situation is, and I gotta take that one on the chin and not let it happen again.”

“That’s all it really comes down to right now. A mistake here or there, a missed shot here or there, a missed free throw here or there, so we gotta make sure we’re sharp mentally.”

On getting ready on Wednesday’s off-day before heading to Philly for Game 6 on Thursday...

“Just a lot of icing, cold tub, soft tissue work. And then just gotta get shots up. The mindset is to get a win. I think it’s nothing different. Nothing has changed in terms of how we’re preparing or the objective. That’s the same.”

On his regular-season rebuilding prowess translating to the playoffs...

“I was able to do it at times in the regular season. I think the biggest thing for me is just pursuing the ball.”

On teams scouting and applying schemes to nullify New York’s rebounding...

“Sometimes you can match it for one quarter, two quarter, three quarters. But if it’s not something that’s part of your foundation, something that’s in your DNA, at some point you are going to forget.”

On how he approaches crashing the glass on a game-by-game basis...

”Everything is going to be going 100 miles an hour, a shot goes up and you look at the ball and try to find myself [the rebounder]. Myself, I’m programmed to do that as much as I’m in the game. If I’m playing 48, I’m programmed to do that all 48. You might do a great job for 46 minutes of it, that last two minutes if there’s a little slip, we want to capitalize.”

On facing a relentless Sixers team that won’t go away...

“We’ve just got to know what the situation is. We know that that team is going to come out with a lot of urgency, intensity, desperation, so we’ve got to be ready for that. We’ve got to be ready to match that intensity, not just match it, exceed it. That’s what we’ve got to focus on. We know the situation we’re in, the situation they’re in. We’ve just got to continue to play our game.”

On his pre-game meal...

“I get about 300-400 milligrams of caffeine (before the game). Mike and Ikes. And then I’m like, let’s get ready to run around.”

“Luckily, I never let myself get too out of shape. When you run like a bat out of hell for 81 games for 40 minutes, you are in pretty good condition.”

Jalen Brunson

On Tyrese Maxey keeping Philadelphia’s hope of an upset alive...

“That’s what he does. You got to pick your poison. Either him or Joel. He was able to make some big time shots … you want to make it a little bit more difficult for him but he made some tough shots.”

On Sixers fans not showing up for home games at Philly...

“I will say this: what Joel said — that Philadelphia is a sports town — that’s 100 percent true. I just think with New York being that close and obviously being a franchise that’s been around for a very long time, it’s easy for them to come to Philly obviously. I’m happy our fans are always around and stuff like that. But it was definitely weird seeing that – especially in a town like that. But I love our fans. And they mean the world to us.”

On moving on to Game 6 and ending the first-round series on the road...

“We’re gonna have confidence regardless. We know that they’re a tough team in that environment. Gotta go in there just ready to play, do what we do and just be ready for a battle.”

On Tuesday’s loss...

“It’s frustrating, obviously, the way it happened, but we can’t hang our heads. We gotta come back stronger, be ready to go and just learn from what we did.”

On Tyrese Maxey and failing to stop him...

“We did some different things. Good players are always going to adjust.”

On his late-game turnover in OT...

“Not good judgment on my part.”

“Careless turnover in overtime. But hats off to them, because they played a full 53 minutes. So we just gotta come back.”

Nick Nurse (Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach)

On Tyrese Maxey carrying the Sixers to a Game 5 win at MSG...

“I think that considering that our No. 1 option was struggling, for him to say, ‘All right, I got to put this team on my back and go,’ I just kept encouraging him, like, to take his chances, take his shots, make plays. And he certainly did it and got in a rhythm and made a whole bunch of them.”

Tyrese Maxey (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On his mindset entering Game 5 and slashing New York late in the fourth and OT...

“Going through my mind right there was just, find a way to survive.”

“Like, we had to. Our season on the line.”

On his emotional screaming...

“I was saying some things that my grandma probably wouldn’t like. That’s a lot of emotion. I’m a happy guy but I actually hate losing.”

Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On playing in New York and becoming the latest Knicks Villain...

“It’s not hostile. I mean, I love New York. New York is one of my favorite cities in the world. I have (had) a place here for the past five years. I just love New York. And then the fans, when you play against a team, they’re always going to pick that guy and they seem to have picked me, which is fun. I love it.”