Jalen Brunson scored 22 of his 38 points in the first half alone to lead the New York Knicks to a 120-126 victory over the Utah Jazz.
The Knicks, who have won three of their last four games, sit with a 31-27 record, just one game behind the sixth-ranked Miami Heat (32-25).
The Villanova-trained point guard hit 11/22 from the field and an almost perfect 14/15 from the foul line. In addition, he added 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal in close to 40 minutes on the floor.
“We have a lot of selfless teammates willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Brunson told the outlet. ESPN. “As long as we can keep that as our main hallmark, we’re going to keep improving,” she acknowledged.
The truth is that the scoring was fairly distributed and, in addition to Brunson’s good work, Julius Randle added 31 points and 6 rebounds; RJ Barrett had 20 points before fouling out; and from the bench Immanuel Quickley finished with 15 points and three converted triples.
In Salt Lake City, the brand new All-Star Lauri Markkanen stood out with 29 points; seconded by Jordan Clarkson with 24 goals and reserve Talen Horton-Tucker with 23 points and 7 assists in just 27 minutes.
Regarding the matches, both would arrive tied 109-109 at the last 03:49 minutes; but two consecutive triples from Brunson and Barrett; plus another addition from Randle in the final stretch gave the Knicks a definitive 9-point lead.
“The Madison was vibrating. Four minutes left. We were even. It’s a great atmosphere and we enjoy these moments. But obviously we would have liked to do better down the stretch,” said coach Will Hardy, who has seen his team lose in four of their last five games.
Hart shines in his debut
Exciting debut for Josh Hart in the New York Knicks with 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals starting from the second unit. The former Portland player had an immediate impact with a lot of energy, a lot of effort and being aware of what Tom Thibodeau will demand of him from now on: defense.
“Josh was huge. How many did he have? Seven rebounds? He put in a lot of effort. Hardness. He was fantastic,” Barrett said.
(Cover photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
