Knicks Bulletin: “It’s like that SpongeBob meme. [Mikal] is Squidward.”

The Knicks returned to New York on Saturday to host the cross-town Nets and gave them no option beating them for the third time this season and going 3-0 in the Cross Bridge Battle this season.

It was a relatively competitive game for 36 minutes of play but the Knicks trounced a lowly and hapless Brooklyn squad that has now lost six consecutive games and is closer to getting the no. 1 pick (which they don’t own) than making the playoffs.

Here is what your Knickerbockers and a few Brooklynites said after the game.

Tom Thibodeau

On facing Brooklyn coming off a cross-country trip from Denver...

“I knew this game would be a challenge coming off the road the way we did. We just needed to find a way to win—you have to find a way to win—and that’s what we did.”

On the win against the Nets on Saturday...

“It says a lot about [the players] and I love the mental toughness of our team, the ability to persevere through things. When things aren’t going our way, just keep going, then make it go our way and then in the end, find a way to win, whatever it is that we gotta do, that’s what we have to do. And it’s a credit to them [the players]. That’s the makeup of these guys and their willingness to commit to play for the team first and put everything they have into it. It says a lot about them.”

Donte DiVincenzo

On his outing on Saturday...

“I’m just trying to make the right play. Be aggressive. They were giving me space at the rim and I was taking advantage of it.”

On the challenge of facing the Nets with Brooklyn entering Saturday’s game down 0-2 against the Knicks and having lost five straight...

“They’re a hungry team, and we know you’ve got to play four quarters to beat them. I’m happy we did. And I’m happy we came out with the win.”

On beating whoever is in front of them...

“We have to lock in. You look at the schedule you have to win the games you’re supposed to win.”

On Decue McBride’s blossoming during the second half of the season...

“I’m not surprised. Obviously, early on in the year, he wasn’t playing as much. But you have to credit him for–most guys when they’re not playing much or not playing at all, they kind of give in to the, ‘Okay. Well, I’m not going to work, do extra workouts, I’m not going to do this.’”

”He does everything, and he’s ready to go. So when his number is called and he doesn’t come out, that’s what happens. He’s ready to go.”

Isaiah Hartenstein

On getting increasing playing time (coming back from an Achilles injury) and getting more comfortable on the court...

“We’re playing more unselfish basketball right now and that’s fun for me. It lets me do what I was brought there to do.”

Deuce McBride

On how he felt after playing the full 48 minutes on Saturday...

“I feel great. We have a lot of fight and we have any number of guys that can get the job done any given night.”

On how he handles having to play heavy minutes and what he did to stay in shape during the start of the season when he barely played...

“Honestly, it’s mental. Just telling myself [to] keep pushing through, give everything I got in order to get the win. And when he wasn’t playing? Try to make practice harder than the games. Doing whatever I can: running treadmill, bike, and making it game-like in practice as much as I can.”

Josh Hart

On Mikal Bridges' situation in Brooklyn compared to what’s going down in Manhattan...

“It’s like that SpongeBob meme when Squidward is looking out the window and he sees SpongeBob and Patrick having fun. [Mikal] is Squidward.”

Kevin Ollie (Brooklyn Nets Interim Head Coach)

On what the Knicks did better than the Nets on Saturday and what separates both franchises...

“They went for every offensive rebound, they got every loose ball. They just wanted it more. You could see it. That is where we are at because at those times you gotta go get it. You gotta go headfirst. We have to do those things to win. I know I sound like a broken record, but that is what we have to do.”

On what the Nets need to do better to become a competitive team...

“You have to counterpunch—talking, loose balls, offensive rebounding—it has nothing to do with talent and it has nothing to do with the ball going in. It’s those little things we have to get better on, we have to double down on. That’s the only way we’re going to win.”

“I talked to [my players] about that. How’s your stamina? Not just your wind, I mean, from a competitive standpoint. That has to be there every single minute for us to win, and it wasn’t [Saturday].”

“We’re not playing five-on-zero, we’re playing five-on-five. They’re gonna be physical, they’re gonna play physical, you have to play through that. That’s what you got to do. These are playoff teams. They want to be in the playoffs, we want to be in the playoffs, so we’re going to have to overcome that.”

Nic Claxton (Brooklyn Nets Player)

On what the Knicks did to the Nets...

“They just turned it up and we didn’t respond well.”