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I don't typically share post-game quotes here, but I found some of the things the Knicks said following last night's loss in Toronto particularly funny/appropriate/inappropriate, so here are a few of those things.
The main point of contention in the locker room last night was the amount of swag/swagger befitting a team in the Knicks' position. Raymond Felton, speaking to SB Nation's James Herbert, expressed hopes of regaining swagger as the Knicks return to Madison Square Garden:
"We're going back home. Just get our swagger back when we go back to the house, go back to our home, our building."
Swagger levels are depleted. Returning home will hopefully replenish them. Got it. FULL SWAG AHEAD. But wait, Amar'e Stoudemire disagrees:
"We got plenty of swagger, we may have too much swag,’’ Stoudemire said. "We got to get more greedy, from the standpoint of wanting to defend, wanting to win and having a sense of urgency. We have to want to win. We got to have the mentality to want to win. It don’t matter if it looks good or not. We just got to get it done. It’s not a great feeling right now.’’
Too much swag! Is Amar'e drawing a distinction between swagger and swag, or is he repeating himself in that first line? I don't know. The Knicks just need to get on the same page swag/swagger-wise and adjust accordingly. Meanwhile, here's J.R. Smith:
"We’re still alive. We still got a heartbeat. It’s just a matter of do we get off the bed or not?"
"That’s been one of our downfalls – not giving effort," Anthony said before they lost to the Raptors.
"We had an opportunity where we could have drove the ball and got smashed and went to the line to make free throws," Woodson said. "We got to take advantage of that and we didn't."
Agreed on all counts (well maybe not the "got smashed" part. Just drawing fouls would be fine). The effort we've seen suits an elite, proven team pissing away wintertime games because they're too cool for the regular season. The Knicks are not that. One more kinda weird thing:
"I disagree with the slow start," he said of a first quarter in Toronto that saw the Knicks score 32 points, but also give up 32.
"You guys [media] are saying that's a slow start," he said, "I don't know what else you want us to do in the beginning of the game."
Like Alan Hahn says: that was a slow start, Jason. No way around it. What we want you (all of you) to do in the beginning of the game is play offense and defense at the same time. That's all.
So, yeah, good job saying the right things, Knicks. Nothing new there. Now just DO some stuff, please.