All season long, the Knicks have been lauded for their balanced scoring and that they don’t necessarily need Jalen Brunson to score for them to win.
They needed Brunson to score last night as he poured in 55 points to lead the Knicks to a 136-132 overtime win over the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena for their 7th straight win.
“That’s the beauty of his [Brunson] game, is he can provide whatever the game needs,” Coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well from three. If we need more scoring, he can provide that. If we need more playmaking, someone else has a good match up, someone else has it going, he’ll search that guy out. The team plays that way, it’s a pretty balanced attack.”
Brunson was absolutely spectacular as he shot 18 for 31 from the floor and 16 of 17 from the free throw line and totaled 42 after halftime. Brunson scored 28 of the Knicks 78 points in the paint on 14 of 17 shooting.
“Throughout the game, you’re just attacking seams,” Brunson said. “You’re trying to see where you can be effective. When you have four other guys on the court that space the floor, it’s easy, so it’s a credit to them.”
Karl-Anthony Towns had 30 points and 14 rebounds while Mikal Bridges added 21 points. Josh Hart scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and made his usual array of clutch plays down the stretch.
Local product Justin Champagnie, brother of Julian, scored a career high 31 points on 13 of 15 from the floor, including 5 of 6 from three, to lead the Wizards, who almost pulled off what would’ve been quite an upset win.
The Knicks trailed for most of the evening as the Wizards performed beyond expectations. Coming into the game, Washington was ranked 28th in the NBA in three point percentage but it seemed like they couldn’t miss as they were 17 for 38 (45%) from three. The Knicks, who were third in three point percentage, just couldn’t hit from beyond the arc as they shot 10 for 40 (25%).
“They’ve been playing well, they’ve been shooting the ball very well last 5,10 games so we gotta give them credit. It was good to extend that streak, dig in and claw and get a win,” said Hart.
The game was tied at 60 at halftime but the Wizards outscored the Knicks, 38-30 to take a 98-90 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
The Knicks, who trailed by as many as 11, were down 100-90 early in the fourth quarter but they ran off an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to two.
It was a 114-107 Wizards lead with under five minutes remaining when Brunson took control as he scored 9 of the Knicks final 12 points including a floater in the paint with 12 seconds left to tie the game at 119 and force overtime.
The Knicks actually had a chance to win in regulation when Brunson threw it in from out of bounds toTowns who just missed a lay up that would’ve won the game right there.
With a little over three minutes left in overtime, a Bridges dunk gave the Knicks a 123-121 lead and they wouldn’t trail the rest of the game.
Brunson’s fadeaway jumper with 1:21 left gave him 50 points and a 129-123 Knicks lead, but the pesky Wizards would not go away.
Brunson made one of two free throws to make it 130-125 with less than a minute left, but Bilal Coulibaly hit a running lay up and was fouled but he missed the free throw. Hart got the rebound but stepped out of bounds giving the ball back to Washington.
Malcolm Brogdon missed a game tying three and the Knicks were seemingly in control but Brunson turned it over and Brogdon hit a lay up to make it a 130-129 game with :21 seconds remaining in overtime.
With ten seconds left, Brunson was fouled and he made two clutch free throws to make it 132-129.
The Knicks fouled Brogdon with nine seconds left and he made both to make it a one point game. Brunson was fouled and again, he hit two clutch free throws for a career high 16 makes with four seconds left as the Knicks took a 134-131 lead.
The Wizards had not timeouts to advance the ball. When they inbounded, Brogdon put the ball on the floor and he was purposely fouled by Hart. Brogdon made the first and then purposely missed the second and didn’t hit the rim but there was no call and Hart grabbed the ball and was fouled with less than a second left.
Hart made both free throws and the Knicks had a remarkable comeback win on the second night of a back to back.
“Give them a lot of credit, I thought they played a great game. We got down 8, 10 [points] and then fought like crazy to give ourselves a chance to win. Find different ways to win when nothing’s going your way,” said Thibodeau.
With his 55 point output, Brunson now has three career 50-plus games as a Knick. Brunson also became the only Knick beside Bernard King to score 55 or more in a game, twice. Last season, Brunson had the second most points in game by a Knick when he scored 61 in a loss at San Antonio. Carmelo Anthony holds the Knicks franchise record for a single game when he scored 62 against the Charlotte Hornets at MSG on January 24, 2014.
As usual, Brunson downplayed his individual effort. “It just happened, just the way the game was flowing. Look up at the scoreboard, it said fifty something,” he said.
The red hot Knicks (22-10) have won 17 of their last 21 games and will have a rematch with the Wizards again at Capital One Arena on Monday night in their final game of 2024.