Knicks Bulletin: “New York is the Mecca of basketball.”

Another day, another loss. That’s a bit of a stretch, I know, but it’s how things are going more often than not for the New York Knicks in February as they navigate the second half of the season while waiting for their banged-up players to make their respective comebacks ahead of the playoffs.

On Tuesday, in the second game of a back-to-back homestand, the Knicks lost to the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 115-92 and offered little to no resistance with the fourth quarter ending in a Manhattan Carnage.

Here is what Coach Thibs and some other folks, including Zion Williamson and other people across the NBA nation had to say about what went down in New York during the last few hours.

Tom Thibodeau

On the team’s collective performance in a challenging game against the Pelicans...

“Start of the third [quarter], we still fought. I thought we had a chance in the fourth, but then we fell short. But I thought everyone gave everything they had.”

“First half was excellent. (At the) start of the third we had a couple of wide-open shots that we missed and then that led to not making transitions the way we needed to.”

“We knew we were gonna have to have volume 3s and we were gonna have to make [them] to have a chance.”

On what he can learn from a game like this...

“A lot. First half, guys really fought hard (against a) tough team, very good team, they have a lot of weapons. Guys were scrambling, playing tough, but we fell short at the end.“

On the New Orleans Pelicans’ roster and players’ skill sets...

“They’ve got great versatility. When you look at their team, Zion has the ability to bring it up, [Brandon] Ingram is terrific. People probably overlook Herb Jones, he’s a terrific player, he’s an all-around basketball player, he’s a terrific player. He does everything well. He’s got great vision, he can run the point, he sees over people. Ingram, same thing, with his size he can pass over people. And Zion’s incredibly unselfish as well. They’re strong on both sides of the ball. Throw in [Jonas] Valanciunas and what he brings. Their defense is terrific.”

On the challenge of compensating for injured players...

“Obviously, you don’t replace Julius or Jalen with an individual player. We have to do that collectively. But when those opportunities do come, I think it’s good to get Deuce [McBride] more minutes. So take advantage of the opportunity that he’s getting to see him grow. Saw that with Precious [Achiuwa] when he came in.”

“The one thing that when you get injuries, it’s an opportunity for you to get a better look at and develop some of the other guys. So that’s the way we look at it and then everybody’s a little different, different strengths. So get in there, play to your strengths. You don’t have to change the way you play. Don’t try to be Jalen, don’t try to be Julius, be you. And if we do that, if we defend and we rebound and we keep our turnovers down, we’ll be in position to win.”

On Jalen Brunson’s injury forcing him out of Tuesday’s matchup...

“He took some hits in the game. When he woke up this morning he had some spasms. He tried, he went through a bunch of treatments and stuff, so we tried to see where he was and just didn’t feel good about it.”

On Isaiah Hartenstein’s ongoing Achilles issues...

“Same thing. Just where we are in the season, we thought the smart thing was take tonight off, get rest, do your recovery. He came in and we knew it would be limited. We wanted to see where he was. OK, where we are right now, it’s better—he’s ramping things up again. That’s where we are with that.”

On the inevitability of injuries no matter how you spread the playing time...

“I mean, it’s part of sports—people get hurt. Everyone deals with something, most guys at this point of the season have something they’re dealing with. So, it’s what happens, and the only way to guarantee nothing happens is don’t play.”

“I know how lucky we are with the guys that we have. Jalen, Julius, Isaiah,... those guys, they work their way through things, they give us whatever they have, they give it to us. And so we’re fortunate we have a whole team full of guys like that. Donte [DiVincenzo], Josh [Hart], you can go down the list.”

On getting official acknowledgments from NBA officials about wrong calls and errors mad only once games are over...

”Not every call is going to be correct. The thing you like about the league, you see the transparency of it all, the last two-minute report. Not every call is perfect. I said this [Monday] night, it was a physical game both ways, and I’m just looking for consistency. As long as it’s called the same way for both teams I’m not complaining about anything.”

Josh Hart

On handling adversity and the Knicks' mindset following a heavy loss on Tuesday...

“Whenever you go through adversity, you got two choices. You got the first one, to kind of face it head-on and don’t complain, just work. And then you have the other one, that’s just go into a ball and complain and cry about it. So I don’t think that’s what anyone in this locker room is doing. And for us, it’s good to go out there and continue to get reps, but I’d rather [get] the win.”

On the Knicks' resilience while enduring an endless string of injuries worsened by Brunson and Harteinstein absences on Tuesday...

“We’re not going to complain about injuries. We’re gonna go out there and put our best foot forward with the guys that we have, and we did that. We had a bad spurt to start that third [quarter], and then the fourth, we let it get away.”

On Jalen Brunson’s outlook and last-second play to feed him the game-winning basket on Monday...

“That’s the thing, he’s always cool, calm and collected—never in a rush. He goes out there and he tries to make the right play. So I’m not sure if he had a shot or not, I don’t know. But he trusted me to make a play at that point in the game.”

”That’s just the kind of player he is; he’s going to make the right play. Whether that’s shooting or making the right pass.”

Donte DiVincenzo

On his mindset entering Tuesday’s matchup (DiVincenzo attempted 18 3-point shots) knowing Jalen Brunson won’t be there...

“I wasn’t going into the game like, ‘Oh, Jalen’s not playing. Just get [shots] up,’. I’m within our offense, trying to be aggressive, trying to just get to spots where I felt comfortable, and just ended up with that number. I wasn’t going into tonight like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna try to get 20 up.’ That’s never my mindset. But when it’s open, I’m gonna let it fly.”

Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans Player)

On his experience playing at Madison Square Garden...

“We want to win. At the end of the day people remember winners. This was my first time playing at Madison Square Garden when there was no COVID restrictions. New York is the Mecca of basketball. Playing here for the first time here was dope, even though I fouled out.”

Becky Hammon (Former WNBA Player)

On his comments and opinion about Jalen Brunson from December, trying to backtrack and making it all sound even worse...

“He’s a tremendous player. I love watching him play. I love watching the smaller guys play because they defy the odds, things that they’re doing out there they shouldn’t be doing. And Jalen is a perfect example. At the end of the day, they’re like, ‘Oh, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash’. I’m like [they were] MVPs of the league. They didn’t win a championship.”

“So yes, [Brunson] is your 1A and all I was saying is that I don’t think you win a championship [with him]. It’s not that he’s not amazing. He’s amazing! So calm down, New York!”

On Jalen Brunson not being good enough (from December; for context)...

“They’re not getting into that [title contender] tier. They don’t have enough personnel. They don’t have the manpower that they need to hang with those guys. I think you’re going to get a consistent team like they’ve been a pretty good team. They’re well-coached. They’re going to be on their defensive game but at the end of the day, they don’t have a dude. You got to have a dude — a 1A dude and they’re missing that.”

Stephen A. Smith (TV Personality)

On injuries being a blessing in disguise for a potential New York Knicks’ deep postseason run...

“Julius Randle and the New York Knicks are going to the Conference Finals… If they were healthy, Tom Thibodeau would run them into the ground because he prioritizes the regular season so much.”