Knicks Bulletin: “We don’t care how we win. We don’t care how ugly it is.”

It took the New York Knicks 47 minutes and nearly 58 seconds of the full 48 to beat the lowly Detroit Pistons but that’s exactly what they did on Monday, final result 113-111 in favor of the hosts.

See, this was a hella tough and tightly contested game, much more than we all would have expected, and it was also a matchup that ended up being decided by the referees and the officiating crew of all men. Sheesh... The Knicks, not new to such situations after being on the other end of one just two weeks ago, got the benefit of the (no) call yesterday.

Here’s what the protagonists had to say before the game tipped off and after the final buzzer sounded.

Tom Thibodeau

On Jalen Brunson’s performance against Detroit...

“He’s always at his best when his best is needed, and that’s what I respect about him. He doesn’t get rattled. He can miss a shot—he’s going to move on to the next play, find a way to win.”

On his players stepping up in a tougher-than-expected matchup in the first of back-to-back games...

“Precious had a big offensive rebound and gave us really good minutes, Donte was terrific... so, we gotta be ready for tomorrow.”

On giving Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson more than 40 minutes in the first leg of a back-to-back...

“There’s a reason why they can handle those minutes. They prepare themselves to handle those minutes.”

On the play leading up to Josh Hart’s game-winning layup...

“I don’t want to comment on stuff like that because I’ve not watched the film. But I thought, in general, it was very physical.“

On Donte DiVincenzo’s defensive effort to get the loose ball from Thompson kickstarting the game-winning play...

“Those are scramble plays. Second and third effort—just find a way, no matter what. Sometimes, that’s the difference between winning and losing right there.”

On the way the refs officiated the full game against the Pistons...

“To me, as long as it’s not tight one way and loose the other way, you can call it tight, you can call it loose. I’m looking for consistency, and I thought it was a good, hard-fought game.”

“I thought [Detroit] played well, and I thought we battled.”

On his former players Quentin Grimes and Evan Fournier...

“Both are great guys. I’m happy for them. They did a great job for us. It’s a new opportunity, it’s sort of the nature of our league. I have great respect for both of those guys. Wish them well except when they play against us.”

On Julius Randle and OG Anunoby’s rehab processes...

“It’s basically—they’re more active on the court now, but it’s still, they haven’t been cleared to take contact or anything like that yet.”

“They have these markers they have to meet, and then they have to get cleared through medical with their exams with the doctors, and once that happens, then that’s really the next phase for them.”

“You go step by step. It’s strength, range of motion, it’s all those things. It’s conditioning. And once the doctors feel good about it, then you add in the contact and that’s usually one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three. Then you get to five-on-five, and you’re good to go. You deal with it day to day.”

“To me, just focus on whatever you control that day. So when they come back, we’ll have to adjust again, but we’ll deal with that when we get there. And then there will be a period of time when they go through an adjustment as well.”

Josh Hart

On what the Knicks did on Monday...

“We won. This is the NBA, man. We don’t care how we win. We don’t care how ugly it is.”

On how the final play leading up to his game-winning and-1 layoup developed...

“I didn’t have that (a block-shot attempt by Jalen Duren), so I just tried to get the contact but still be able to put myself in a position to finish.”

On the New York Knicks fighting until the very last second to get the dub against the lowly Pistons...

“That sums up our team, sums up our city. We grind, we fight, we scratch, we claw, we find a way.”

On the no-call play at the end of the game...

“I’ve been a part of some crazy stuff that’s happened playing basketball. So, whether it’s the basketball gods or not, crazy things happen in an 82-game season.”

Jalen Brunson

On his decision-making at the end of the match with the game on the line...

“Donte dove for the ball and the ball came loose and then I looked at the clock, looked up the floor, saw Josh was open and just got around their defense and hit him.”

On the collective effort for the full 48 minutes of play...

“Keep fighting. No matter what.”

“We had one more play in us than they did.”

Donte DiVincenzo

On the Knicks win on Monday...

“Respect the game. Respect the opponent. And just play basketball.”

On his thoughts about Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams’ comments calling the no-call by the refs an “abomination”...

“You respect everyone’s opinion. You can go back the whole game and nitpick calls. Do I think we dodged a bullet overall? Yes. I have great respect for Monty and everybody over there. Like I said, we dodged a bullet with the win. And whatever the opinions are, that’s fine.”

On his action on Ausar Thompson at the end of the game...

“I went for the ball—I didn’t look at the play. You turn the ball over, the ball is in front of you, and you go after the ball. Like I said, I respect everyone’s opinion. I can’t speak on it until I look at the film.”

Monty Williams (Detroit Pistons Head Coach)

On the final sequence of the game...

“The absolute worst call of the season. Enough is enough.”

“Where’s the New York media now? The absolutely worst call of the season. No call and enough is enough. We’ve done it the right way. We’ve called the league. We’ve sent in clips. We’re sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again.”

“We just want a fair game called. Period and I got nothing else to say. We want a fair game and that was not fair.”

On his team’s efforts to address officiating concerns impacting Detroit’s record...

“We’ve done it the right way. We’ve called the league. We’ve sent in clips. We’re sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again. We had a chance to win the game and the guy (Donte DiVincenzo) dove into Ausar’s (Thompson) legs and there was a no-call. That’s an abomination.”

“I’m tired of talking about it. I’m tired of our guys asking me, ‘What more can we do coach?’ That situation is exhibit A to what we’ve been dealing with all season long.”

On his former player Bojan Bogdanovic...

“He’s a competitor, but you guys knew that. I always felt like he was really good with our young guys. He had a lot of patience for sure. He played on so many competitive teams and being in a situation like ours required him to be a little more patient with the learning curve.”

“He’s just a really good player, not afraid to take big shots. Competes on defense. I don’t think there’s anything there you don’t know.”

“I enjoyed my time with him and [Alec Burks], some of the best veterans I’ve been around. I think they were great examples for our young group. When you have a young group like we have, growing players, having that example every day is good for our group. So we appreciated them.”

Quentin Grimes (Detroit Pistons Player)

On putting Detroit ahead of New York with less than 40 seconds to go and what they failed at after that...

“I felt like once I got that bucket, we just had to come up with a rebound.”

On the no-call at the end of Monday’s game against the Knicks...

“I think everybody on the team, everybody in the country thought Ausar (Thompson) got fouled, loose ball. Game goes a totally different way if he gets fouled and we get that call, so that’s just how it is.”

On facing the Knicks as a visitor for the first time in New York...

“I really don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, I got to go off or something.’ But you do get a little extra oomph when you wake up and try to go off against a team that traded you.”

On the outlook of his Detroit Pistons for this season and beyond...

“Definitely, the record isn’t an indicator of what the team is overall. The energy, the cohesiveness of the unit, the guys, the organization as a whole... Talking to Monty when I got here talking about where he sees me on the court when I first got there and was injured. You can definitely tell his winning mentality. He’s been to the [NBA] Finals, the way he teaches.”

Ausar Thompson (Detroit Pistons Player)

On the action leading up to a turnover and the eventual game-winning basket by the Knicks...

“I was very confused when I was on the ground and the play kept going, I’m not going to lie, but I mean, that’s how it goes.”

Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons Player)

On the mood inside the Pistons locker room after the game...

“I’d say livid. That’s the word of the day: Livid.”

James Williams (Crew Chief Referee)

On the no-call on Donte DiVincenzo...

“Upon postgame review, we determined that Thompson gets to the ball first, and then was deprived of the opportunity to gain possession of the ball. That is a missed call.”

“We looked at the play from every angle, and we feel like we missed the play. We feel terrible about it. It’s an important play in the game and we missed it.”