Perhaps the best indication of what’s important for these Knicks — or what’s most relevant to their status as either contenders or pretenders — was the theme of Wednesday night’s postgame locker room interviews.

Morant scored just 10 points on 5-13 shooting while being completely taken out of the game by New York's top wing defender. It was something that the coaching staff loved to see.

Mikal Bridges returns to Brooklyn on Tuesday for the first time since being traded. He played two seasons with the Nets.