I mean the fact that the Knicks are better than they've been in years and where you guys are now in terms of New York basketball, kind of being back on the map And those fans being amplified more?

Yeah, I think so.

Especially the the pandemic and everything that we're going through right now.

And fans aren't able to come into arenas.

I think I see me giving them more excitement than when we finally opened up.

They're able to come and see some extra live basketball.

So, um, obviously we're playing well.

The Knicks were playing well, Um, so that gives them obviously a more of a reason to come.

But I think just the excitement and fans wanted to get into Arena to see some basketball see their favorite player play is, uh, another reason.

So, um, I heard I heard the crowd tonight.

You know, it was exciting, and I just I'm anxious and I can't wait to were able to let more fans in.

And, you know, I can't wait for that day.

It's like a little taste.

Um and then secondly, I I know you.

You're not about individual accolades and you wanted to move past.

But passing Larry Bird, I'm wondering if you're able to enjoy it almost more on a team where you don't need to have the individual accolades.

You just happen to have them as a cherry on top of these team wins, passing, labored And what all time scoring list?

Oh, I mean, obviously, you know how great lady was and the things he did in Boston.

Um, legend legend.

I think I just I'll play the game the right way and hopefully, you know, good things happen for me.

Um, passing, you know, one of the greatest ever player basket, one of the greatest early basketball is a It's a great honor.

And I got to continue to go because at the end of the end of the day, I want my name to be, you know, uh, you know, I mentioned with those grades.

Thank you.

Ryan Lewis with the New York Post.

Hey, James, obviously you guys are capable of playing beautiful basketball when everything is going right, But I mean, how how important is it to be able to grind out?

You know, a game like this, where it's kind of sloppy and kind of defensive minded.

How important is it for you guys as showing your growth to be able to win a game like, very important?

I think for us, uh, we're not.

We're We're more than capable of winning basketball games, different ways.

Um, and obviously we've been showing it, you know, we can.

We can be a team that's making shots and and everything is going smooth.

Or we can be a team that we got to get down and do the dirty work.

You know, dive on the floor.

Um, box.

How do small things deflections?

And tonight was one of those games.

You know, I think we barely cracked 100 but we held them 95.

And that's, uh, that's great defense are shot, wasn't following, but we still found a way to win.

And I think that's gonna be key, uh, going into the postseason because everything isn't gonna be sweet.

Yeah.

Greg Logan, with news day.

You've done this several times this year, James.

But tonight nobody.

We're going down from deep.

So So at the end, when you took over, you just kind of make up your mind to either get to the rim or get to the line.

Yeah, I had to be aggressive.

Uh, you know, things weren't going great for us.

Offensively.

I think defensively, we're playing hard in the show.

But it's one of those nights and we just got to find a way to win.

And I just had to get to the basket and create something for myself and for our team.

And, um, I wanted to be a little bit more aggressive in the last two minutes, and I just had confidence in my photo confidence against the rim.

And D.

J did an unbelievable job of screening and which I was able to get down here and finish Alex Schiffer with the athletic.

Hey, James, Greg just took one of my questions outside of Andriana and Joe.

Tough night for you guys from shooting three.

How much of that was was then?

Defensively.

Just shots not going in for you guys, um, little bit more, I think, uh, know whether they play great defense or we just couldn't make a shot.

Either way.

It happened.

And so we didn't do well on that.

We didn't say Okay, we're not making shots.

You know they got us tonight.

We found a way to win.

We found a way to grind it out, even being up double digits and they come coming back and taking the lead.

Um, late in the fourth quarter, we found a way to keep grinding and grinding it out.

And we did it with our defensive effort.

And, uh, that's huge for us.

Christian Winfield with the New York Daily News Hey, James, you know, obviously the game in Detroit, uh, the last time around has been kind of like a sticking point.

Slash a turning point for this team.

I think you guys have well, what, like 13 or 14 of 15 games since then.

So I'm just curious.

Was, was that loss that that guy's or was that thought about losing in Detroit to that motivate you guys at all in this game, or was that anything you guys talked about?

We did.

We mentioned it, but I think it's most importantly about us and how we're playing.

We definitely mentioned that Detroit lost and how embarrassing that was in.

From that point on, we've been playing pretty good basketball.

And so, uh, second half of the season.

It's gonna be tough games.

Teams are fighting for a playoff positioning or we're not, you know?

So we're gonna get teams best shots, and we got to be prepared for it and also continue to get better.

I think every every single day we're chipping away.

We're chipping away in the right direction.

And tonight, even though it wasn't pretty, I think we learned a lot from each other.

Um, winning that game.

You know how the way we did.

Thanks so much, James.

We appreciate it.

Thanks.

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