Knicks Bulletin: “We played like [expletive]. That was it.”

The New York Knicks hosted the Golden State Warriors on Friday, Leap Day, and although they ended up with another loss (110-99) in their regular-season record they can at least celebrate the putrid month of February finally came to an end.

Tom Thibodeau’s team had no answer for the Dubs in what was a wire-to-wire defeat at the hands of the old dynastic team before they face the Cavaliers on the road next Sunday in what is the lone game they will play away from MSG until March 14th.

Here is what Thibs and a few other protagonists had to say before and after yesterday’s affair.

Tom Thibodeau

On what went wrong at the start of the game as the Knicks went 14-0 down...

“They hit us hard. So they got out in transition, got easy buckets, and we had to fight out a big hole.”

On Josh Hart playing 47 minutes against the Warriors in a wire-to-wire loss...

“I’m always talking to him. He’s handle it well, obviously we’re shorthanded right now so that’s what’s required.“

“You know... 18 rebounds, seven assists, he’s a great defender—we need him right now.”

On limiting Alec Burks playing time to just 11 minutes off the bench...

“If you look at his net rating, I probably should have played him more minutes tonight. He’s a plus when he’s on the floor—good things are happening, so just keep working.”

On which player would get the assignment of defending Steph Curry individually...

“Our team will try.”

On OG Anunoby’s rehab process and when he’ll finally make his comeback...

“I think all that stuff is speculation (a potential mid-March return). It’s when he’s ready to play.”

“The good thing was him getting cleared [Thursday, returning to on-court activities Friday]. Now you go into the next phase. He’ll be checked by our medical people daily and then we go from there. This next step is the important one. Once the contact is added, then that’s when he’ll be ready to go.”

On the struggles on the defensive end following OG Anunoby’s injury and surgery, and how to solve them...

“Probably the defense struggling is a combination [of things]. Obviously, it’s [OG going out], but also coinciding with that is Isaiah [Hartenstein] going out. So some of our rim protection is gone. But we still have to find a way to get it done. Other guys, get in there and get it done.”

On the 4-8 record in February and staying focused, going one game at a time...

“I give our guys a lot of credit. They’ve been fighting all year. We’ve been shorthanded most of the year. So just keep fighting. Don’t look ahead, just look at what’s in front of us today. Tomorrow we’ll worry about tomorrow. Put each and everything you have into every day.”

Josh Hart

On the Knicks collective performance in the loss to the Warriors...

“We played like [expletive]. That was it. We didn’t get stops. We’re a team that we get stops, we play fast. We get buckets for each other. We gave up too many fast-break points in that first quarter. So learning experience. Now we’ve got to just focus on Cleveland, learn from it.”

On the doubts about the Knicks chances at a postseason run after losing eight of their last 11 games...

“I’m not sure what you all expect or what you all think. We are playing as best as we can with the bodies that we have. We have guys like OG, [Julius Randle], Mitch [Robinson], been out for a long time. We’re playing our [butts] off. It’s not like we’re just sitting there and crying about injuries and laying down. Nah, we’re grinding, we’re pushing ourselves.”

”Once we get guys back, we’re good. I didn’t see anybody talking about the way we were playing before that—nine in a row, 10 in a row, 15 out of 17.”

“Take four starters, six rotation guys out of any lineup in the league, they’re going to struggle. I don’t care if they’re Boston with the best record or Detroit or Washington with the worst record. If you take that many guys out at the same time, you’re going to struggle. That’s the reality of it.”

On what OG Anunoby gives the Knicks when available and on the court...

“He’s someone who can make the game easy. Offensively he lets the game come to him, gets stuff in rhythm, in the flow of the offense. Defensively, obviously he’s a huge piece in terms of guarding the other team’s best players, point of attack, those kinds of things.”

“So not having that makes things harder defensively and offensively, but whenever he stops f–king around and (being) on vacation, it’ll be better.”

On OG Anunoby’s slow recovery now lasting more than a month since his last game...

“He’s taking his sweet-ass time, I’ll tell you that. I’m playing 40 [minutes]. That’s the difference, so hopefully he’ll hurry his ass up.”

Isaiah Hartenstein

On the poor run of results put together by the Knicks as they battle the injury bug and the team’s mindset...

“We’re confident. We had a little stretch even after that when we were playing good. Then after that we had more injuries and then a whole bunch of guys out. And certain games where it was close at the end. Houston [lost on an incorrect foul call] was close.”

“This last stretch has been a little tougher, but again, we have enough guys here. We’re confident in that until everyone comes back.”

On making an early return from his Achilles injury to help the team as much and as sooner as possible...

“I probably could’ve sat out a couple more weeks. But to me, I think we found a perfect medium where we’re ramping it up at a good time. Just want to be here for the team.”

On playing fewer minutes (20 on Thursday) in the past few games as he makes a slow comeback from his injury...

“I feel it now a little bit. But that’s why you ramp it up because it will get better and better. That’s where we’re at. We don’t want to spike it up too much at this point. We have a good program in place. It’ll get better. That’s the good thing about it.”

Jalen Brunson

On his performance on Thrusday’s loss against the Golden State Warriors...

“Just focused on whatever I need to do to help the team win, that’s my main priority, and I didn’t do that tonight.”

On how the Warriors took and early lead making it impossible for the Knicks to pull off the comeback...

“They were making shots. They just had a little bit more energy than us the first six to eight minutes. From that point on, we started to play a little bit better. But just not a good start on our part.”

“They brought it right from the beginning. And then pretty much playing catch up. It made things difficult all night, so you gotta give them a lot of credit. That’s a well-coached team over there. They’ve been playing well over the past, like, 15 games or whatever it is.”

“They have weapons, and you can clearly tell that they’ve been playing together for a long time, so you gotta give them a lot of credit.”

On moving on from the defeat and looking at what’s ahead...

“We’re on to Cleveland, for sure. We clearly need to be better. We can definitely learn from our past. We can be upset, pissed off for the rest of today, until we fall asleep. But tomorrow morning, we’ve got to be focused on the next one. Keep our spirits up, keep our confidence up.”

“We all need to work hard individually to be confident. Just come in the next day, be ready to go, just keep trusting each other, just keep chipping away.”

Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors Head Coach)

On Jalen Brunson’s All-Star season and if it has surprised him...

“No, because this has been happening for the last few years.”

“We saw Jalen in the West finals with Dallas two years ago and he was such a crucial part of their team. Obviously, he went to another level last year with the Knicks.”

“He’s a great player, a great leader, a wonderful guy to coach and get to know, and tough to guard. He’s very clever and strong, really a great player. He’s great in the paint. He’s great at the elbow areas, great footwork.”

“I think you can see the Villanova influence with him. Jay Wright is a great coach, a great fundamentals coach. When you watched Villanova play during Jay’s time, there was always a sense that they were going to take care of the ball, keep their feet on the ground and make the fundamental play. It’s one of the strengths of their teams. Jalen embodies that, and then when you have a guy who’s that strong, all that footwork, he’s even more lethal because now you get a reverse pivot and he can withstand any blow and run through people and get to the rim or get his shot off using that strength. So he’s really tough.”

On the Dubs’ defense and Moses Moody in particular limiting Brunson to an 11-of-25 shooting performance...

“Moses just did a great job of just making it as difficult as possible without fouling, forcing [Brunson] into some tough shots. That was the key, but I thought our full team defended at a high-level tonight.”