The New York Knicks have now won seven games in a row. It took an extra five minutes to defeat the lowly Washington Wizards, but in the end, they won 136-132. The victory improved their record to 22-10. That is the third-best mark in the Eastern Conference and tied with the Memphis Grizzlies for fourth-best in the NBA.
The Knicks have one of the league’s most productive starting lineups (their bench is a different story for a different day). After Jalen Brunson took over late in Saturday’s game, he became the fourth member of the Knicks to score at least 40 points this season. As a matter of fact, the Knicks became the first team in NBA history to have four players drop 40 points in a game during a season prior to New Year’s Day.
Knicks Have Four Players To Score 40+ Points This Season
Brunson Scores 55 In OT Win
New York certainly was against the ropes Saturday against a bad Washington team. It’s almost as if Jalen Brunson took it upon himself to ensure that the Knicks didn’t give the Wizards just their sixth win on the year. His floater with 11.1 seconds left in regulation forced overtime. That was two of 14 points that the 28-year-old scored in the fourth stanza. He added nine of New York ‘s 17 points in the extra frame.
Altogether, Brunson finished with a whopping 55 points. That ties him for the sixth-most points ever scored by a Knicks player in a single game. Brunson is also second on that list, scoring 61 in a game for the team on March 29, 2024. On Saturday, the 6-foot-2 guard shot 18-31 from the field, 3-11 from beyond the arc, and 16-17 from the foul line. What made Brunson’s 55-points outing even more impressive is that he went the whole second quarter without scoring.
Bridges With Masterful Performance On Christmas Day
Just three days prior to Brunson’s performance, it was Mikal Bridges who put on a show in front of a Christmas Day audience. While a lot of talk centered around Victor Wembanyama’s all-around effort, it was Bridges and the Knicks that sent their fans home happy with a 117-114 win.
After a rough start to the season, the 28-year-old put an exclamation point on what has been a wonderful December for Bridges. On Christmas Day, he finished the afternoon outing with 41 points. He hit big-time shot after big-time shot in a game they were down by eight at one point in the fourth quarter. Bridges would finish shooting 17-25 from the field, 6-9 from three-point range, and making his one free-throw attempt.
Anunoby Drops Career-High On Nuggets
OG Anunoby is most known for his tenacious defense. That doesn’t mean he can’t bring it on the offensive end though, he just isn’t asked to each night. On November 25, the 27-year-old had his best offensive outing of the season in a 145-118 win over the Denver Nuggets.
In the win, Anunoby finished with 40 points, a new career-high. In the blowout win, the 6-foot-7 forward went 16-23 from the field, 5-7 on three-point tries, and 3-3 from the charity stripe. He scored 18 of New York’s 37 points in the third quarter.
Towns With Two Games Scoring More Than 40
Karl-Anthony Towns has fit seamlessly with the Knicks despite being acquired by the team so late into the offseason. He leads the league in rebounding, is tied for his career-best in field goal percentage, and has his best career three-point percentage.
Not only is the 7-foot center the first player to score at least 40 in a game for the Knicks this season, he’s the only one to do it multiple times. The 29-year-old had a 44-point showing in a 116-107 victory over the Miami Heat on October 30. Shortly after that on November 13, Towns followed that up with by scoring 46 points against the Chicago Bulls. That was the one game out of the five where the Knicks failed to win in a game where a player scored at least 40, falling by one point 124-123. In the two contests, Towns combined to connect on 10 of his 17 three-point attempts.
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