Knicks Bulletin: “I was like Shaq at the free-throw line.”

The Knicks played a game of basketball in Philadelphia but you’d have guessed it took place right in the middle of Manhattan judging by the crowd’s chants... and the final result.

New York invaded Cheesesteak Land, conquered Wells Fargo Center by beating the hapless Sixers 97-94, dealt with Joel Embiid’s mixed-martial-art-moves package, and will have three sweet chances of punching Phillys’ tickets for a trip to Cancun with the first one coming on Tuesday.

Here is what the protagonists of a legendary Sunday Nighter had to say after the Knicks dub.

Tom Thibodeau

On throwing the OG-Precious combo to Joel Embiid on defense and short-circuiting him entirely...

“Going into the series, we thought this could be a possibility. We probably were going to use it more in a different situation. But the situation we were in, with Mitch [Robinson] being out, Isaiah [Hartenstein] in foul trouble and then I wanted to get a look at it anyway and he wanted to do it so we got a look at it.

And look, Embiid—he’s a load. You’re not guarding him individually. You’ve got to guard him with your team. So we understand that.”

On what makes the Knicks so good late in games...

“Jalen has played at such an incredible high level all season long, and we can play off that. We have a little bit of everything.”

“The rebounding has been terrific. Everyone questioned the rebounding with Josh [Hart] at the power forward. We’ve been the best rebounding team all year. Everyone questioned Jalen being a leader. We have a lot to prove. I think we learned that throughout the course of the season.”

“It takes four to win a series, that’s what we have to focus on.”

On dominating the offensive boards...

“We understand how important that is, and we’ve got some guys that are great at it. They’re relentless.’”

On the steady contributions from everybody across the roster and the next-man-up mentality...

“I think it has been the story of this season. And I think when you look back to everything that transpired with guys going out and new guys coming in and whoever gets in there, just get the job done. Know what your job is. Do your job. Execute.”

On Brunson’s historic night and the rest of the Knicks making it possible...

“We’re a team, and we have a team of leaders, and then of course the way Jalen has responded to the challenge has been huge.”

“But not just Jalen. Everyone has embraced their role. And like I said, the challenge now is for us not to feel good about ourselves, to not change, to enjoy this for the moment, but tonight start getting ready for the next one.”

”We know the challenge that will be in front of us and we have to get a fourth win. So be ready for that.”

Jalen Brunson

On the New York Knicks fans going places to root for the squad...

“No matter where we are, they’re gonna be there. I’m appreciative, I’m thankful… and a lot of these situations wouldn’t be done without them.”

On the silent Sixers fans getting supplanted by raucous Knicks fanatics on the road...

“This Philadelphia fan base, I’ve said this before, they’re very relentless, very passionate. I mean, I’m an Eagles fan, I would know, but seeing the Knicks, hearing the Knicks here is pretty cool. It’s awesome.”

On snatching a hard-to-get win from Philly in Game 4...

“You’ve got to give [the 76ers] a lot of credit first and foremost. They play hard and they play so well together, even when things look chaotic they’re in control. It’s a credit to them.”

”Somehow we just found a way, kept fighting, kept sticking together. We found a way. When it’s ugly and we can find a way to win like that, when we’re not playing perfect, it’s a plus for us, a plus for our confidence.”

“We’re not done yet. We’ve got to continue to have that pump-up mentality and we’ve got to find a way to win another.”

On Josh Hart’s uber-important contributions...

“No matter what is going on with him shooting the ball-wise, his effort is always going to be there. That’s the one thing we all expect and we all know we’re going to see every single night.”

“It’s a credit to him for affecting the game when the offense isn’t really working. We always have his back no matter what.”

On winning but still having more room to improve...

“I’m going to continue to say it — we’ve got to be better if we want to close it out and move onto the next round because this team is not going to quit fighting.”

On hitting the locker room after bagging knees with Kyle Lowry...

“I didn’t want to, but went back there, walked around for a couple of seconds and came back out.”

On scoring a franchise-record 47 points in a playoffs game...

“I’ll look back when I retire. Seriously. It’s great right now, it helped us get a win. But it’s not going to do anything for us going forward.”

“It’s pretty cool, but unless [Bernard King] comes back and helps us win the next game—I promise you I’ll think about it later.”

OG Anunoby

On Brunson’s record-setting Game 4 and overall performance through the first-round series...

“Jalen’s a great player. You come to expect it. You expect him to make every shot. He’s a great player. Even when he was cold the first couple of games, you knew he was going to turn it around. It was going to turn around eventually.”

On taking on Embiid on defense...

“I just fight as hard as I can. He’s a great player. He’s going to score. He has ways to counter our stuff, too. He’s seen everything I’m sure. He knows how to go against it too. I just do the best I can too.”

Precious Achiuwa

On OG Anunoby’s defensive chops...

“I’m not surprised at all. He might be pound-for-pound the best defender in the NBA. And he was able to show that tonight with his versatility and strength, challenging shots at the basket, being able to guard somebody like Embiid, who has a lot of weight on him but he was able to hold his own and take the challenge.”

On pulling down 7 rebounds and swatting 4 shots in an extraordinary Game 4 outing...

“That’s part of being a professional. I pride myself in being a professional, coming in and doing what I have to do. And just when the opportunity comes around, taking advantage of it and play to the best of my abilities. To me, that’s what it comes down to, just continue being professional.”

“Things happen in this league, ups and downs, and whatnot, and I understand things I can contribute to the team. I think I’ve done that at a really high level in the season, and I understand the level I’m capable of playing at.”

Josh Hart

On contributing outside of the points column, mostly by grabbing 17 boards...

“I mean, I had to do something. I had five turnovers, didn’t make a shot, didn’t hit any free throws, missed two free throws late that were big. So offensively it just wasn’t there today.”

“When you have that you have to try to figure out ways to still make an impact in the game. And for me that was rebounding and pushing. Offensive rebound, trying to get extra possession. Looked athletic on a couple of blocks. So that was nice. But yeah, when you’re not making shots, you got to find other ways to impact the game.”

On Brunson carrying the offensive load in the Game 4 victory...

“Yeah... we needed it. S–t, I’m the starting small forward, power forward, whatever I am, and I didn’t make a shot. I was like Shaq at the free-throw line. So we needed it. He played great offensively, aggressive. And that’s what we needed.”

Kelly Oubre (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On knowing the Knicks blueprint but still not having a clue about how to stop them...

“That’s what they do. Like I said, Jalen is putting up all the shots, but at the end of the day, like that’s what he’s supposed to do. And then everybody else is supposed to crash the glass like mad men.”

”Josh (Hart) is a strong body. OG (Anunoby) is a strong body. Donte (DiVincenzo) squeezes in a few and then they just have guys that just know that they have to go get those misses because that’s how they’ll eat.”

“At the end of the day, we got to do a better job of hitting, also holding our hits and not necessarily holding them, but holding our hits and just blocking out better going to get them.”

Nick Nurse (Philadelphia 76ers Head Coach)

On Achiuwa putting the clamps on Embiid with Mitchell Robinson (injury) and Isaiah Hartenstien (foul trouble) sitting...

“Precious played really well for them all through the regular season, I thought, when Robinson was out. They’ve got a guy there who’s always ready to go.”

Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers Player)

On his dreams of winning a first-round matchup...

“One at a time. We know we’re good enough. Tonight, we didn’t make shots, so we just got to keep trusting ourselves. We got no pressure. We’re the 7-seed down 3–1, a lot of guys are hurt.”

”I don’t know why we would feel the pressure, so we should just go out there and go out and play our best basketball and one at a time—win one, come back home, win another one and then Game 7 over there. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Yeah. No pressure.”

On the Sixers fans not showing up for Game 4...

“I love our fans.”

“(I) think it’s unfortunate and I’m not calling them out, but it is disappointing. Obviously you got a lot of Knicks fans and they’re down the road and I’ve never seen it, and I’ve been here for 10 years.”

”Yeah, it kind of pisses me off. They’ve always shown up and I don’t think that should happen. Yeah. It’s not OK.”

On the Knicks strategy of using Jalen Brunson to beat the Sixers and hunting for potential offensive boards...

“They got obviously their best player that they trust and they’re OK with him taking 40 shots a game. And I think most of the time when you are in rotation or when you are trying to load up to make sure that he doesn’t get easy shots, that kind of gives them a lot of open lanes to just attack the offensive glass. And it almost seems like they just know he’s gonna shoot it. So they’re just getting ready to offensive rebound.”

On his mindset throughout the first-round series...

“Your competitive nature is always going to take over and I felt like they always come back in the game in this series. So I was like, I’ve got nothing to lose, just going to push myself and obviously it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to.”