Jalen Brunson scored a season-high 47 points to power the Knicks to a 132-125 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
It was Brunson’s 20th 40-point game with New York and the most points he’s scored at MSG. Mikal Bridges added 24 points (6-for-7 from beyond the arc), including 18 in the first half, on a night when the Knicks turned around some first-quarter woes into a big bounce-back win to improve to 20-8 on the season (14-2 at home) and sent the Heat to a seventh loss in their last eight games to fall to 15-14 on the year.
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The opening quarter on Sunday began like a Sunday drive: A bit aimless, a bit stop-and-go, featured a few wrong turns, and some back-seat driving as Karl-Anthony Towns was issued a technical foul all within the opening five minutes. Mike Brown called for a timeout after the Heat converted an easy layup as they beat the Knicks down the floor in transition. The pause didn’t help: Towns committed the Knicks’ third turnover with an offensive foul, and Miami scored five straight for an 18-9 advantage.
Down 10 late in the period, the Knicks finally got a bit of rhythm going with seven straight points. The Heat, with quick ball movement and pushing the pace, converted on 7-for-11 from behind the arc in the first for a seven-point edge after 12 minutes, despite the Knicks’ 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) start from the floor.
Entering midway through the second with the Knicks down nine, Brunson went back to work with five points. Bridges, who started hot, didn’t want to miss out, connecting on back-to-back threes to force Erik Spoelstra to call for time in a one-point game with 3:42 to play in the half. Five straight from Brunson gave the Knicks a lead, 61-57, for the first time since it was 9-8 early in the first. The guard rattled in his fifth three of the half just before the buzzer to give him 27 and the Knicks a 66-62 lead.
In the third, after Miami cut the lead to two, seven straight from New York, which turned offense to defense with a pair of blocks, forced a timeout up nine, their largest lead of the night. Norman Powell woke up with 19 points in the quarter and Kel’el Ware, the Heat’s second-year big man, found his stroke, pouring in four of six from deep for 22 points. But OG Anunoby, who was scoreless in the first half, answered with 12 points and Brunson added 12 of his own to keep the Knicks up by six.
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As the two sides looked to end the shooting barage of the first three quarters, the game became bogged down by free throws and missed shots (Knicks 6-for-16 from the floor, Heat 4-for-14 in the early goings), but the New York kept its edge with a couple of big threes, including a desperation heave from Josh Hart late in the shot clock and a corner three from Brunson after Mitchell Robinson kept the ball in-play on an offensive rebound.
But Miami wouldn’t go down easily, as Ware connected again from deep to give him 28 points, and two free throws from Jamie Jaquez Jr. to give him 19 off the bench made it a three-point game with 3:12 to play. But a 5-0 run, with Bridges making a second three in the quarter to give him 24, and a flagrant foul on Powell while Brunson attempted a three, allowed the Knicks to make it a 10-point game with 94 seconds left to play and that just about did it.
Here are the takeaways…
– Brunson was the offense early, connecting on five of eight attempts from the floor for 14 points with three assists to his name. After time on the bench to start the second, Brunson came in with two quick buckets, the second a layup off a nice give-and-go with Hart. The Knicks’ MVP poured in 27 in his first 18 minutes on 10-for-15 shooting (5-for-8 from deep). He went 5-for-11 in the second half and had several clutch free throws down the stretch. Where would the Knicks be without him?
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– Bridges started well, hitting five of his first six buckets, including both his three-point attempts for 12 points, with two rebounds and two assists. The guard continued to find good looks and hit back-to-back threes from a spot on the right elbow extended to give him 18 in the first half on 7-for-10 shooting. After not attempting a shot in the third, Bridges converted 2 of 4 in the fourth to finish with 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting with four assists, two rebounds, but was a minus-2 in 40 minutes.
– Towns had a rough start, picking up his second offensive foul of the game just over three minutes into the second quarter. He started point-less (0-for-4 from the floor) in his first 13 minutes with two rebounds, one assist, two turnovers (both fouls), and was a minus-8 in the first half.
Towns put in his first shot of the third quarter for his first points. But his rough night continued with a third offensive foul to open the fourth. He finished with just two points on 1-for-5 shooting with six rebounds, two assists, two steals, three turnovers, four fouls, and was a minus-1 in 29 minutes.
– Anunoby, coming off his worst game of the season Friday in Philadelphia, had a very quiet opening five minutes, with just a turnover, and he was the first one to the bench. He didn’t attempt a shot in the first and missed his first two in the second (both threes), the second of which looked very flat. He had two turnovers and was a minus-2 in 15 first-half minutes.
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Anunoby finally got cooking in the third, scoring 12 points (5-for-7 shooting) with three blocks, an assist, and a steal in the quarter. Four free throws to start the fourth meant the bad start was a distant memory, finishing with 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting (2-for-6 from deep) with three assists, two rebounds, two blocks, one steal, four turnovers, and was a plus-3 in 34 minutes.
– Hart had five in the first half, but added all of the things that make him good: six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and was a plus-5 in 16 minutes. He finished with 13 points (5-for-10 shooting, 3-for-5 from deep) with 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and was a plus-4 in 33 minutes.
– Off the bench, Robinson got one of the biggest cheers of the night when he knocked down his first two free-throw attempts late in the second quarter. He extended his streak to 10 consecutive free throws made after starting the year 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) to the year. He finished with nine points (3-for-4) with seven rebounds, two steals, two assists, one block, and was a plus-6 in 22 minutes.
Jordan Clarkson added five points in the first half and dished out an assist in the first half, finishing with 10 points (4-for-5) with two rebounds, an assist, two turnovers, and was a minus-2 in 18 minutes.
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Tyler Kolek added four points with two rebounds, three assists, and two fouls, and was a plus-10 in 12 first-half minutes, really giving them a second-quarter spark to grab the lead. He finished with six points (3-for-6) with four rebounds and three assists and was a plus-16 (a Knicks high) in 22 minutes.
– For Miami, Ware finished with 28 points (11-for-15) and 20 rebounds (six offensive) as the Heat outrebounded the home side 56-42. Jaquez had 23 points and Powell addded 22.
Game MVP: Jalen Brunson
He heard MVP chants from the MSG faithful and for good reason, as he finished with 47 points on 15-for-26 shooting (6-for-13 from deep) with eight assists, three rebounds, zero turnovers, and was a plus-10 in 38 minutes.
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Highlights
What’s next
The Knicks are back in action on Tuesday night when they travel to Minnesota to take on the Timberwolves. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
