Knicks Bulletin: Italian DiVincenzo, pundits on Brunson and Rockets Robbery...

No, there was no on-court action on Tuesday involving the New York Knicks, but the franchise surely didn’t take the day off as they proceeded to fill a protest with the NBA for the robbery committed by a bunch of suspect referees in Monday’s game at Houston.

No, it’s probably not going to work—it has only succeeded six times before—but the Knicks lose nothing trying and hey, it’s not that they are right after the very own NBA admitted they took overtime, at the very least, from the New York Knicks by calling a non-existent foul, on a last-second heave, not to mention not allowing the visitors a last play following an in-time timeout.

Anyway, now we can only wait. Meanwhile, here are some quotes your Knickerbockers and other folks have said in the past few hours touching on that call, the Olympics, and Jalen Brunson.

Josh Hart

On the wrong call against the Knicks on Monday’s loss at Houston...

“Obviously, it’s tough, man. We came back from what? Two double-digit leads? Obviously, we would’ve loved for the game to get into overtime, but at the end of the day, we didn’t play our best, and you can’t let the end of the game be out of our control.”

”I think we would’ve and I think everybody in the basketball world would’ve liked it to go into overtime, but at the end of the day, they made the call and we gotta rock with it.”

Donte DiVincenzo

On representing Italy in the upcoming Olympics...

“Ideally, I’d love to. Logistically and how everything plays out, I don’t know if it’s possible. But if everything works out perfectly, I would love to.”

“There are a few more hoops to jump through. But it’s something I told my family, my agent, that I wanted to do—to be able to represent a country. And hopefully, I can get all the paperwork done and be out there as soon as possible.”

Jalen Brunson

On teammate Donte DiVincenzo representing Italy in the Olympics and potentially facing him...

“That’d be cool. That’s an opportunity for him that if he wants to do it, I’d be more than happy to support him in that decision.”

“If we do play or don’t play or whatever, it is what it is, because we’ve had a lot of battles.”

On his performance in the loss against Houston on Monday...

“I didn’t play well for the majority of the game. Yeah. I missed [shots]. I was a little bit out of rhythm. I felt I was getting to my spots, just wasn’t making them. It’s all good. On to the next one.”

Kenny Smith (Former NBA Player)

On the wrong foul call against the Knicks on Monday stealing a game from New York...

“If you’re a Knick fan, it was a blown call. I’ll leave it at that. But it’s one game and you got 82, and in the playoffs, we’re not gonna remember this night.”

”It’s one game, we move beyond the one game and talk about the future.”

”I think that overall, our referees do a great job, and while we have all of the technology to replay it, those things are gonna happen.”

”I had a game where we lost and didn’t get into the NBA playoffs because it was a goaltending call on the last play of the last game of the season. So I don’t have any sympathy for guys like that.”

On Jalen Brunson’s steady ascension...

“I always used to look at him [in high school] and go, ‘He doesn’t look the part, but he’s always winning.’ And then he got to college [at Villanova], and I’m like, ‘He doesn’t look the part, but he’s always winning.’ And then he got to the NBA, and I just stopped saying that. The guy just affects winning.”

“I think that where the Knicks have probably changed my opinion of them is the fact that now they’ve closed the gap between having the best player on the floor on different nights.”

Candace Parker (WNBA Player)

On his criticism of Jalen Brunson earlier this season...

“Well, I feel like, first of all, I love Knicks fans, and I get [the backlash]. What I was alluding to was the fact that in the first round of the playoffs, he was the best player on the court against Donovan Mitchell. He was the best player on the court.”

“And the second round, especially on the defensive end, Miami picked on him a great deal. And Jimmy Butler was, in fact, the best player on the court. And my thing was basically—it was no slight on Jalen Brunson. I think he makes everybody better around him. I think he makes winning plays.”

On New York’s trade for Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic improving its outlook...

“I think what the Knicks have done in this trade, and in the season, that has been surrounding him with defense, which was something that they struggled with last year, and getting stops against Miami in the playoffs. So that was my hot take.”