Knicks Bulletin: “Gets you well paid. So that’s just something I take pride in.”

The New York Knicks caught a break on Friday following their victorious return to action on Thursday when they went to Philly to beat the Sixers, 110-96, inside their own arena.

With the NBA content machine never truly stopping, the Knicks will be on the court—this time back home at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan—hosting the league-best Boston Celtics in a primetime matchup scheduled to tip off at 8:30 pm ET today.

Here are the latest quotes we’ve gotten from coach Thibs and a few New York Knicks players.

Tom Thibodeau

On limiting Isaiah Hartenstein's playing time to just 11 minutes against the Sixers...

“Just the game. That’s why I was saying to you guys, the minutes thing (Hartenstein was expected to play 20 minutes) is more of a guideline and you have to read how the game goes, too. It’ll come for him.”

On Josh Hart’s skill set and contributions to the New York Knicks...

“[Hart] is a quirky guy. The thing—you just love what he brings to the team. He’s authentic. A genuine guy. Plays as hard as he can on every possession. You can’t ask for anything more. He’s unique in the sense that he’s one of a kind.”

“He brings a lot to the team. A lot of the things that he does aren’t measured statistically. They’re just—fly all over the place, hustle, get to loose balls, hit the open man.”

“Oftentimes he’s not getting the assist but he’s making the play. Those toughness plays, it gives your team heart. His defense is really tough, and I think that’s huge for our team.”

On Bojan Bogdanovic after his Knicks-high, 22-point outing on Thursday...

“[Bogdanovic] is a gifted scorer. We saw the post-up, too. He can get it up quick and he can put it on the floor, too, so if you close hard on him, he has different finishes at the basket. He scores a lot of different ways, and I think that’s a big asset for us.”

“You can play him at small forward or power forward, so when we needed more spacing when they went with the double-teaming, we didn’t need two bigs, we had shooting on the floor and the playmaking.”

Josh Hart

On facing the league-best Boston Celtics on a marquee matchup on Saturday’s primetime slate...

“Yeah, [no backing down] is like the mentality you have to have to be successful in the league. At the end of the day, I’m going to take our roster and our team over anybody in the league. That’s the mentality you have to have.”

On defending smaller players and guards...

“That’s not me. We got Donte DiVincenzo for that. Me, I don’t really care.”

“I like going against tough matchups. I like those kind of things. But if there’s guys who do it better than me, cool, that means I’m second or third option.”

“I feel like I can definitely guard those guys. I don’t think you’re going to see me chasing these little dudes around. I got a height limit.”

On defending smallish Donovan Mitchell in last season’s playoffs...

“That was pre-free agency. Now my height limit is 6–4.”

On getting the Tyrese Maxey assignment on Thursday’s game against the Sixers...

“I was not expecting to guard Tyrese Maxey. I’m not going to lie, I felt old yesterday, man. My body was—he was a little too fast for me. You saw he blew right past me.”

“I wasn’t thinking about guarding Tyrese, because I hate guarding those 5–2 and under, short, fast, explosive dudes. But [Tom Thibodeau] made that switch. And I’m like, I’m going to go out there and I’m going to try. So that’s me.”

On the mutual trust between him and coach Tom Thibodeau...

“Me and Thibs, we got our way of communicating. The thing with me and Thibs, he knows whatever he asks me to do, I’m going to go out there and do it. I’m not going to shortchange it. And I think that’s the benefit of having a good relationship with your coach where it’s, he might not want to do something, but if it’s something the team needs and he asks me to do it, he has trust in me that I’m going to do it.”

“Do I like playing the power forward? No. Do I like guarding little shooters running around screens? No. But there’s no team that has won without sacrificing. So as much as I hate something, if Thibs says we need you to do this, I’m going to go out there and do it, and do it to the best of my ability.”

On finding motivation in complaining about anything and everything...

“I’m going to complain. I’m going to find somehow, and someway to complain about something.”

On modeling his mentality about that of Patrick Beverly after watching him at a Houston Rockets scrimmage while still in Villanova...

“Typical Pat Bev, just yelling random s–t half the time. And it was funny because he was yelling at (Villanova Wildcats) Coach Wright, I don’t even think he knows Coach Wright. Beverley was yelling, ‘Not everybody can be James Harden, but I can be the best Pat Bev!’”

“It was just that mentality of grinding, doing the dirty work, doing all those little things that help the team win. Gets you well paid. So that’s just something I take pride in.”

Jalen Brunson

On the Boston Celtics ahead of Saturday’s matchup in Madison Square Garden...

“The way they’re playing, I mean, they’re the gold standard right now the way they’re playing. So we’ve got to be up for the challenge, lock in, be ready to go. They present a great challenge for us. A lot of respect for them over there. We’ll just see where we’re at. I think it’s an indicator of where we’re at.”

“No matter what the playoffs hold—we’re not even thinking about that right now. We have 26 games left. And so right now we’re just, obviously, we’re not at full strength. But we’ve got to find a way to be better every single day, no matter who’s out there.”

On playing for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup last summer and making his first All-Star game this season...

“Those things are all honors. Playing for Team USA is an honor. Being named an All-Star is an honor. So you work very hard for those moments. So no matter what the actual situation is, you can’t say, ‘Well, I don’t get a break.’ You’re working hard to achieve your goals, so whatever the situation is, you can only control what you can control, so that’s all I care about.”

On Josh Hart’s antics...

“I think he just talks the talk, if that makes sense. He’s like a—I’m going to be nice—he says whatever he wants to say, but when he goes out there when it’s time to compete, it doesn’t matter who or what is in front of him.”

Bojan Bogdanovic

On legendary NBA player and fellow Croat Drazen Petrovic...

“He is a hero to every Croatian player.”

On playing for a contending team following the trade from Detroit to New York...

“Just great to be on a team where every game—I don’t wanna say that in Detroit we didn’t value the game—but here is like every game counts. Like, winning in Philly, they’re right behind us. So, I mean, it counts for playoff position, and it’s fun. It’s fun to be a part of the group that is winning and actually play unselfish.”

On Jalen Brunson's prowess at facilitating plays for his teammates, and him benefiting from that...

“I know how good [Brunson] is and probably every other team is gonna do what Philly was doing, either blitzing him or doubling him right out of the gate. So he’s doing what not a lot of stars are willing to do, giving up the ball whenever he is blitzed. That’s great for all of us in showing how unselfish he is and how much he cares about our team’s success.”

”I was always a shooter, even in Europe, so here, playing with better players, you’re gonna have better-quality shots.”