The bench mob got it done.

A bunch of folks up in Indianapolis are starting to sweat and feel anxious, aren’t they?

The Knicks made the trip to Indy, enjoyed the 500, and ran the Pacers out of their own arena, beating them 106-100 and inching closer to making the ECF a tied affair if/when they can get another dub on Tuesday.

Here’s what Coach Thibs and a few other folks said before and after a delightful Game 3 victory.

Tom Thibodeau

On why he chose to flip Josh Hart for Mitchell Robinson in the starting lineup:

“Whatever gives your team the best chance to win. I know you try to put everything into a box. I don’t work that way.

“People think, ‘I want a low-scoring game.’ No, I just want more points than they have. I don’t care if it’s low scoring, high scoring, medium scoring. I just wanna win. That’s the bottom line.

“Whatever gives us the best chance to win, that’s what we’re gonna do. And so, that’s what I felt was gonna give us the best chance to win tonight’s game, so that’s why we did it.”

On comeback possibilities in the playoffs:

“In playoff basketball—I know you guys roll your eyes when I say ‘No lead is safe,’ but no lead is safe. Because I think with the 3-point shot, people make up ground quickly. The pace of the game.

“You see comebacks all the time. And if you let up just a little bit, that’s what happens. So, you got to win games in different ways. Obviously, you prefer to play from a lead, but whatever it is that you have to do, that’s what you have to do to get the win in the end.

“Going into the game, we talked about, ‘You don’t play the series, you play the games. Just focus in on what it takes to win tonight’s game.’ That’s all we’re thinking about.”

On McBride’s resilience after committing three fouls in less than two minutes:

“It’s not easy to do, particularly when you go to the bench after a minute and then you’ve gotta still stay in the game mentally. I thought his intensity was huge for us. He’s a catalyst, his defense, his hustle, and I think it gives people energy when you see him flying around like that.”

On bringing Brunson into the game with 1:37 left and his value in crunch time:

“I knew we had to have him down the stretch.”

On Towns’ skillset:

“KAT, as we know, is a very gifted scorer. He can score at three different levels. He’s comfortable at the 3-point line, he’s comfortable putting the ball on the floor, he’s comfortable with his back to the basket. As long as he stays aggressive, it’s a huge plus for us.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On his Game 3 performance and mindset:

“Anytime you can win it’s a good feeling. So down 2–0, finding a way to win tonight should raise our confidence, raise the morale of the team.

“When I got a chance tonight to do what I do in the 4th, I made sure I was gonna seize the opportunity. I just wanted to go out there and give our team a chance to win. Just happy I was able to do that.”

On overcoming early struggles before exploding in the fourth quarter:

“The game wasn’t looking great for me. For all of us. Fourth quarter’s different. Feels like a whole ’nother game.”

On resetting after bad stretches:

“Just have to let the last game, and even those three quarters, go. Just focus on giving yourself a chance to win the game.”

On capitalizing on his skillset:

“I just saw an opportunity. Saw an opportunity to utilize all those hours I put into the gym.”

On seizing the opportunity:

“My teammates put me in great spots to succeed, and I just wanted to capitalize on the opportunity. All of us were just doing whatever it takes to win and put ourselves in a position to get back in the game, one, and two, put ourselves in a position where, you know, at the end of the game, you could find ourselves or a chance to win. Shout out to the locker room, and all of us finding a way.”

On the locker room’s character:

“Grit and continuity. This team is special. That locker room is special. For us to have the grittiness that we have, it’s because of the character and personalities and sacrifice everyone in the locker room is willing to make.”

On Jalen Brunson’s clutch performance:

“Did you expect anything less from JB? He got that award for a reason. We knew when we got in that fourth quarter, we gotta get back in the game, and we felt very confident.”

On honoring his heritage:

“Shoutout to the Dominicans, man, on Dominican Mother’s Day.”

Josh Hart

On Towns’ impact in Game 3:

“He’s a tough matchup, I feel like, for anybody in the league. When he has it going like that, it’s great for us because it opens up so many things. We need that aggression from him all the time, offensively.

“He made a couple of tough shots. He showed his ability to get to the rim, his ability to post up, his ability to space the floor. He’s a tough matchup for anybody in the league, and when he has it going like that, it’s great for us, because it opens up so many things. I think we even had some back-cuts that we probably didn’t connect on, but they were open. So we need that aggression from him all the time offensively. And when he does that, it also bleeds into his defense.”

On the bench unit’s impact:

“Gotta give credit to those guys. Sham was great, Lon played great, Deuce… They injected energy into the game and were huge for us tonight. We’re going to continue to rely on guys like that moving forward.”

On the improved Game 3 defense:

“You have to come out with that intensity, the physicality, the ball pressure to start the game. We rebounded the ball and then we got out in transition, got easy buckets, so defensively, it was huge. We communicated at a high level. We recognized mismatches. We put out fires. We rotated. It was a great defensive half for us.”

On suggesting Thibs to bench him in favor of starting Mitchell Robinson:

“It was never going to be a tough day for me because I had a hand in that decision. When I’m in a decision like that and kind of got the ball rolling on that, it was funny, y’all are scrambling, trying to get answers and I never really cared. Because it was kind of my decision. I was comfortable with it.”

On accepting the role change:

“I’ve been a 15th man, I’ve been a third man, I’ve been a sixth man, I’ve been whatever. I truly feel like I’m a starter in the league. I think I’ve played amazing this year. So if he does [make a change], cool. I can’t sit here and preach about sacrifice and getting out of our own personal agendas and all that, and then, as a decision like that is made, then be mad at it and not wanting to sacrifice and not wanting to do that. That’s not the kind of person that I am. So if Thibs does that, which I don’t know if he is or isn’t, I’m all for it. I’m gonna play my game, my minutes, my style, no matter if I’m coming off the bench or I’m starting.”

On needing a change after going down 0–2:

“Yeah, I think we need something drastic in terms of our energy and effort, our competitiveness. You saw that with Minnesota yesterday [in the Timberwolves’ Game 3 win over Oklahoma City]. They came out of the gate aggressive … But just every game of a playoff series the intensity has to pick up. You can’t have any lapses, especially to start the game and you allow a team like that, who is extremely talented offensively to get comfortable. I think that’s the biggest drastic thing we can do is have that energy change.”

On dealing with Indiana’s pressure:

“Especially against a team like this where they force you into the position to make mistakes. And, if you have one guy that messes up the coverage and one guy who isn’t communicating, one guy that doesn’t step up, it breaks the whole defense down. Now, you have to try to combat that and cover for that. A team like this that’s incredibly talented offensively, you can’t have any lapses. It just takes one domino to fall to just, you know. We all have to make sure we take pride in guarding our yard but being focused and locked in.”

Jalen Brunson

On staying calm and focused late:

“Honestly, just focus on the moment and clearing my mind. And not worrying about what happened previously.”

On his late-game mindset:

“It’s an emotional game, it’s a long game. Things can happen, things can not go your way. You can easily crash out, or you can respond the right way. I got people in my corner, people on this team who believe in me and believe in us. The conversations that we had as a team, the encouragement and everything we do is important, especially throughout a 48-minute game. Just gotta continue to believe.”

On Indiana’s transition play:

“Obviously their points off turnovers have been a factor for them. They’re running on makes and misses regardless, so we just obviously have to get back in transition, and obviously they’re playing great and we gotta counteract that.”

On needing defensive adjustments:

“I think obviously the biggest thing is our [defensive] rotations and our communication and our physicality. And those things, they go a long way.”

Miles McBride

On Towns’ and-one defining the game:

“The and-one, and he started finger-pointing—I think that’s when I knew. Honestly, he’s a special player. He did what he had to do tonight.”

On getting support from teammates during Game 3:

“Honestly, shoutout to my teammates, on the bench. Just talking to me and keeping me encouraged and keeping me locked in. I just wanted to do everything I could to get out there. Obviously, you can’t control certain things, but I wanted to make my impact.”

On outscoring Indiana by 12 with him on the floor:

“Coach did a great job with moving things around, and we figured it out.”

On never before committing as many fouls in such a short span:

“Maybe my rookie year, but nothing like that before.”

Mikal Bridges

On Towns’ fourth quarter:

“KAT, when he gets in that zone like that, it’s gonna be tough to stop him. We needed every single point that he gave us in that fourth quarter.”

On team defense in Game 3:

“It’s just firing away and moving around and being alert every time, no laziness on that end, no ball give up, no the ball leaves the hand and you relax. Nobody’s relaxing. Everybody’s ready to step up and step up for the next guy. So we need that every time.”

Mitchell Robinson

On the starting lineup change:

“It worked out pretty good. Once the game started, we had a nice little lead. Since I’m in that group right now, we kind of figured each other out.”

Landry Shamet

On staying ready:

“It’s the playoffs, you need everybody. That’s been my intention, that’s been our intention from the get.”

Delon Wright

On his role:

“I sacrifice myself on the offensive end so I can play on the defensive end to a high level. Sometimes I do wanna score more, but I’ve gotta put my energy on the defensive end. That’s what I want to bring: defense to this team. Other guys’ roles are to score.”

Rick Brunson

On the ECF:

“We’re back in it, baby!”

Rick Carlisle

On Nesmith’s injury and eventual return:

“Yeah, it’s certainly a factor. He went back to the training room, got it looked at, believe he got it re-taped. He was doing things in the hallway to get moving again. And then I got the word that he was good to go back in, that he was moving without limitation at that point in time. And so rather than wait, the best thing to do is get him back in there so that you know he didn’t stiffen up anymore. And then, you know, down the stretch he seemed to move okay to me just from the eye test standing there, but I haven’t studied the film yet and obviously we’ll know more tomorrow.”

On the Game 3 breakdown:

“I do know that when we started building a lead, and the crowd got into it, things got a little crazy. We had some back-and-forth, kind of nutty plays, with some turnovers and stuff like that. So much of playoff basketball is doing the basics really well. And in those instances, being able to keep a level of poise, along with aggression. I’ll look closer at it (later Sunday night), but clearly, we didn’t do well enough in that area.”

Tyrese Haliburton

On his struggles in Game 3:

“Just trying to get guys in the right positions. I think down the stretch, a game like this comes down to one or two possessions, so just trying to execute the right way, get guys in the right spots. But yeah, it’s definitely an area where I know when I watch film, I’m going to kick myself for it. I’m already thinking about it, kicking myself for it … I think that’s just part of it and I got to be better there. Honestly, I think a lot of our offensive struggles in the second half were due to me, so I got to be better there and I will be better in Game 4.”

On how to approach Game 4:

“We feel like offensively, we’ve had a great series thus far. I would say that was our first real like bad half offensively, so we got to be better there. And then defensively, you hold a team like that to 106, that’s — you should win that game. So we gotta, I mean, 100 points isn’t us, you know? So kudos to them, they did a good job, but there’s definitely areas that we can improve on. We’ll have a great film session [Monday]. Guys will watch film on their own tonight and tomorrow, and see where we can get better. There’s one day in between games, so it is what it is. You watch film, then you just flush it and get ready for Game 4.”

On offensive stagnation:

“I have to watch film to give you a better answer, but it felt like the game was just, like, stuck there. Which is a weird feeling. It felt like every time we scored, they scored. Every time we didn’t, we got a stop. We never were able to really pull away. I don’t really know the real answer. … (but) I felt the ball got stuck a little bit. I felt like a lot of our turnovers (eight of 12) happened in the second half. I just felt like we did a better job of valuing the ball in the first half.”

On Siakam’s value:

“That’s why we brought him here. That’s what he’s here to do. He can get a bucket in so many different ways.”

Pascal Siakam

On the reason for the Game 3 loss:

“We got to stay playing our way, and we just didn’t.”

Andrew Nembhard

On failing to limit Jalen Brunson in Game 3:

“I don’t think we’re trying to focus too much on just attacking him. We’re trying to play our game, and wherever he’s at, he’s at.”