Win three, and you’re in. I guess.

The Knicks lost 130-121 to the Pacers in a pivotal Game 4 on the road.

New York will host Game 5, hopefully Game 7, and most probably not Game 1 of any series until next April—at the earliest.

Here’s what Coach Thibs and a bunch of other people said before and after Tuesday’s catastrophic outing.

Tom Thibodeau

On what went wrong in Game 4 for the “new” starters:

“There’s obviously some good, but also things we have to do a lot better. I don’t think we had a good grouping.

“We start the third without great energy, and you can’t do that. Once it gets to double figures, now they’ve got more confidence. We gotta make sure we play with the proper approach and intensity and force and be connected.”

On the problems leading to an awful Game 4 performance:

“It was probably a compilation of things. You had the first quarter, it was problematic. That set the tone for the game, giving up 43 points and then we turn it over against them, particularly the live ball turnovers, you’re the fueling transition game.”

On the team’s inability to close out Game 4:

“Every game is going to be hard fought. Even in tonight’s game we still had a chance at the end. With the idea being, we say 48 minutes and you’re striving for that, knowing that it’s impossible to get to that. You’re not going to get perfection, but strive for it. Fight for every possession, that matters. You don’t know which possession makes the difference between winning and losing in the end. But each possession is critical. And at the end you obviously want to make more winning plays than they do and we haven’t done that.”

On the mindset going into Game 5:

“The important thing is to reset, you’re not playing the series, you’re playing the game. What do we have to do to win that game? Each game is different. … You’ve got to reset and get ready for the next game.”

On Towns’ Game 4 injury scare:

“He was able to go back in, so that’s a good sign. We’ll see where he is after he gets evaluated.”

On the need for a better team effort to stop Haliburton:

“Haliburton is a great player and you don’t guard great players in this league individually; it’s your entire team. And if one guy is not doing their job, everyone is gonna look bad. And there’s a combination of things, whether we’re talking defensive transition, isolation game, pick-and-roll game, whatever it might be. It’s everyone being tight together and moving in unison and reading the ball correctly and making the right reads.”

On the questionable officiating involving Brunson in Game 3:

“Some of the plays, they’re 50/50. They can go either way. I’m looking, he’s taking charges and he’s getting called for blocks.

“I don’t care what the officiating is saying, I’ve studied this league a long time, I know what a charge looks like. You challenge it and they still say… and then the—I’ll just leave it at that.”

On Towns’ poise under pressure:

“He’s been through a lot of situations. He’s got experience so he’s been in playoff games. Just to play with poise under pressure, it’s understandable what’s going on in the game.”

On defensive awareness and the need for pristine communication:

“You see it every night and it’s not anything new. You deal with it all night long and that’s how most teams play. So you have to have awareness, be tied together, you have to be in the gaps and you have to communicate, everything tied in to the ball.”

On Cam Payne’s benching of late:

“Just a coach’s decision. Cam is a terrific player, very good pro. We’re asking a lot of people to make sacrifices, put the team first and he’s done that his whole career, so just stay ready.”

On new-look starting lineup in Game 3:

“Well, the final result. We had a number of guys step up and play well. And it’s not really about who’s starting, it’s about how you finish. So we had a number of guys step up and play well.”

On Game 3 closing lineup decisions:

“The closing lineup ended up being a lineup that, for the most part, had played a lot together. You’re just reading the game – what’s going on and what do you need at that particular time. Do you need more offense? Do you need more defense? And you try to make your decisions based on that and how the game’s flowing and what are the matchups? Who do they have on the floor? And what are you trying to take care of?”

Mitchell Robinson

On his slow start in Game 4:

“Got off to a slow start, especially in the first half. Started picking it up in the second. Can’t allow that, especially at a time like now. Have to be better from the jump.”

On defensive communication breakdowns:

“That started with me. I wasn’t talking first. I’m the anchor of the defense, if I’m not talking, nobody is. Allowed it to get away.”

On the mindset for Game 5:

“Come out with more urgency. Go out there and get it done.”

On the importance of playing at the Garden:

“There’s no place like that. You come to the Garden and then you go someplace else and you’re like ‘Damn!’ It’s a big difference.”

Karl-Anthony Towns

On not thinking about his injury right after yet another loss:

“I’m only thinking about the loss, I’m not thinking about that right now. It’s disappointing when you don’t get a win. We just didn’t do enough to get the job done tonight.”

On the need to regroup quickly:

“We’ve been a team that kind of found a way to do the impossible. We see the impossible and we just keep fighting. It’s been a testament to our whole playoff run. This time we happen to be in the fight for our lives, our season. And it starts the next game. Taking it game by game. looking ahead and just looking at the next quarter and the next game.”

On trusting in the team’s ability to pull off recurring fourth-quarter comebacks:

“In true fashion to our whole playoff run, we put ourselves in a deficit, we dug ourselves out of the deficit and usually we feel good about us going into a close game in the fourth quarter, showing that resilience. I’ve said it to y’all multiple times that you’re going to get burned when you put yourselves in that position too many times and tonight is one of those nights where we got burned. You think going into the fourth quarter we’re going to find that one trick to get us to the end of the game, and we just didn’t have that magic tonight.”

On failing to defend Haliburton as a team:

“It’s not just (Brunson). It’s all of us. We all have to do a better job of making it more difficult for each of them to score.”

Deuce McBride

On how the Knicks’ turnovers impacted Game 4:

“Anytime you give a team like that turnovers and opportunities to get out in the open floor, it’s tough to get back.”

On the locker room mindset following the Game 4 loss:

“We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror, be really self-aware of what we can do better, and go out there and get the job done.”

Jalen Brunson

On the Game 4 loss and overall mindset:

“As a team we just need to tighten the screws. If they’re aggressive turnovers that would be different, but passive turnovers are just not us.”

On what’s left to do down 3–1:

“Nothing else matters at this point. You have to give it your all. It’s that simple.”

On defensive shortcomings:

“I’m not doing enough. There has to be a difference on my part when it comes to that.”

On the need to defend better when the other team targets him:

“Obviously when teams hunt me, it is what it is. Obviously I’m gonna give my effort, give everything I have. I’ve just gotta be smart and not foul, and I think if I just keep my body in the right position and contest shots, and foul or not foul or not receive the foul, I’ll put my team in a better position to win.”

On the Knicks playing better defense with him off the court:

“I think the most consistent part was how we were flying around. Even if breakdowns happened, we recovered back, we flew around, we got back to bodies, back to matching up. It may have led to a couple of offensive rebounds, but the way we were flying around, it was definitely key to making things more difficult for them.”

Josh Hart

On being down 3–1:

“We’ve got our backs against the wall, we’ve just got to make sure we fight out of it.”

On his own mistakes and turnovers:

“It’s tough to win against a team like that who turn those turnovers into points. I had like 4 or 5, just bad, just stupid turnovers that you can’t have. That leads to easy baskets, it leads to momentum. We have to be more careful with the ball, starting with myself.”

On defending Indiana’s offense:

“I think it’s difficult for any team [to stop]. You can stop one action, but then it’s the next action and the next action. If one domino falls … that one person’s mess-up is messing up the whole possession. Obviously they’re running good stuff, but we have to make sure that we’re physical and locked in and just make it tough for them.”

Mikal Bridges

On the loss and what’s next:

“We just kept fighting. They just came out with more fire. … It’s one game at a time. It’s part of the grind, part of the story. We’ve just got to learn from it, we’ve been part of a lot of different games, different series, it’s just gut check time.”

On his turnovers:

“I think I had 3 of them. Just bad turnovers. A team that plays that fast, you can’t give them transition looks like that.”

On failing to stop Haliburton as his main assignment:

“I got to do a better job. We got to do a better job of controlling [Haliburton in space] and helping each other.”

On the steady defensive lapses in Game 4:

“Communication, that was the biggest thing. It started with me. I wasn’t talking first, and I’m the anchor of the defense. I’m not talking, nobody is.”

OG Anunoby

On learning from Game 4:

“You can always grow from everything, even a loss. So we just have to learn from it, grow from it, watch the film and get better.”

Rick Carlisle

On Indiana’s adjustments for Game 4:

“Past history doesn’t mean anything once you get to this moment. We have got to focus in on things that are really important, and that is our ability to create pressure on these guys with full-court defense, doing it without fouling, doing a better job on the boards so that we can get out and run and keep tempo in the game. We slowed down too much in Game 3 and even after makes, we’ve gotta get it in quickly, we’ve gotta move the ball up the floor as quickly as possible. Our paint touches in Game 3 were a very low number compared to most of the rest of the playoffs, so these are all aggression things. And then you’ve got great players you’ve gotta deal with.”

On OG Anunoby’s impact:

“You’ve gotta deal with Brunson, you’ve gotta deal with Towns, and then the third guy that’s a real problem is Anunoby. For their team, Anunoby, if you look at stats: wins, losses, he’s one of the biggest difference-makers on their team. He’s 19 points in wins and 12 in losses. So we’ve gotta make sure we pay extra special attention to him, too, and not let him get going.”

On the Knicks-Pacers rivalry:

“It’s competitive. Look, there’s a lot of history that goes back a lot of years. When I was an assistant here I think we played them three years in a row [in the playoffs]. It’s great competition. We have a high level of respect for how they compete, and their fan base, you play at the Garden, it’s one of the ultimate environments. And we have one of the ultimate environments here. It’s always really good competition. … It’s a great series. There’s a lot going on. But we’re trying to stay focused on the process that works for us the best, and it’s not an easy process and the Knicks certainly aren’t an easy opponent.”

On team development and the Pacers’ future outlook:

“We’re still a young team. There’s growth happening all the time.”

On Haliburton’s mistake-free performance:

“There will be a new statistical category, perhaps named after him somewhere down the line. He and Chris Paul, these guys, there aren’t a lot of guys. Stockton did not turn the ball over much back when he played. … I know he takes great pride in it and that’s a motivating factor.”

Pascal Siakam

On the Pacers’ decision to double-team Karl-Anthony Towns more in Game 4:

“We know he’s gifted offensively and he can shoot, he can drive. It’s a team effort, he’s a tough cover.”

T.J. McConnell

On the Pacers losing their edge in Game 3 and losing that game:

“Our superpower is our speed and our depth, and our ability to not get tired. I don’t think we did that well. When you have a lead like that, I would say some ‘comfortability’ sets in. We can’t allow that.”

Myles Turner

On why they lost Game 3:

“There’s plenty of times when we’re walking the ball up the floor as if we’re the Knicks. We didn’t play fast enough. We built our brand and made our way getting up and down and being a fast-paced team, and we didn’t execute that way.”

On playing at MSG:

“I think it brings out the best competitor in a lot of people. It’s called the Mecca, right? It’s the ultimate competitive environment.”

On enjoying road games:

“Personally, I enjoy being on the road, because I like those hostile environments, you know, just being the enemy, being the villain. I enjoy that. You hit a big shot and the crowd goes silent. I like those moments.”

Tyrese Haliburton

On his historic triple-double:

“I was just trying to be aggressive. Just trying to play my best. I felt like I let the team down in Game 3. I could have been so much better. I felt like I responded the right way today.”

On what he expects from Game 5 at the Garden:

“Their backs are against the wall. They’re going to play as desperate as they can, as they should. They’re going to come out and throw a punch, throw more punches and more punches. We’ve just got to be able to respond to those.”

On his father’s absence from prior games and his return to Game 4:

“I know we’re saying free pops and pops was free, but he was not in jail, he happened to be in a very beautiful home sitting very pretty watching NBA basketball. He’s just fine.

“I’m glad Pop’s in the building. It makes it that much more sweet.”