This time, Jalen Brunson’s shot went in.
Brunson hit a three pointer with 6.2 seconds left and Mikal Bridges made a huge block in the waning seconds as the Knicks, who were shorthanded, scored a 124-122 win over the Brooklyn Nets in an NBA Cup game at Madison Square Garden last night.
The win gave the Knicks a 2-0 mark in the in-season tournament.
The Knicks had an 18 point lead heading to the fourth quarter but Brooklyn put on a ferocious comeback and took a 122-121 lead on Dennis Schroder’s three pointer with 12 seconds left.
“Sometimes that happens [blowing a lead], now you can’t just start pointing fingers and saying, what did we just do? You gotta lock in and find a way to win,” said Brunson.
Brunson took the inbounds pass right in front of the Nets bench. Brooklyn’s Dorian Finney-Smith gave Brunson a little room to prevent a drive to the basket but the Knicks guard took a step back to clear the three point line and fired up the winning shot to give the Knicks a two point lead and send the Garden crowd into a frenzy.
“I think I had enough space, a shot I work on,” Brunson said. “Whenver you get an opportunity like that you want to make it. The mindset, the approach, the work, the routine, everything stayed the same. It wasn’t anything different.”
Brooklyn was out of timeouts but there was still time to tie or win the game.
Schroeder came down the court and drove to the hoop for a floater to tie the game, but Bridges got enough of the shot to prevent it from going in. Rookie Ariel Hukporti, who made an impact in the game, grabbed the final rebound and the Knicks avoided what would’ve been a disastrous loss.
It’s been quite a couple of days for the Knicks who lost a heartbreaker to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night as Brunson’s shot did not fall. Brunson showed the kind of player and competitor he is as he had no qualms about taking the final shot after missing the other one two days ago.
“We had the emotion of the last game, that disappointment and then to bounce back like we did tonight, to find a way to win at the end, it speaks volumes as to who he [Brunson] is. To have the resolve to take that shot and make that shot,” Coach Tom Thibodeau said.
The Knicks were without Karl Anthony Towns (knee) and Miles McBride (illness) but they got a huge contribution from Hukporti who did not start but played 30 minutes and had four blocked shots.
Brunson led the Knicks with 37 points, 16 in the fourth quarter while Bridges scored 22 points to offset Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas who was on fire and poured in a game high 43 points.
O.G. Anunoby had 25 points but fouled out with a little over four minutes left, leaving the Knicks even more shorthanded but they overcame some shoddy defense and some questionable foul calls in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been a low foul team for a long time now. All of a sudden, I see what’s going on and I don’t like it,” Thibodeau said. “It can’t be the physicality that’s being displayed on Jalen when he’s bringing the ball up the floor, the grab, the hold, all that stuff. I really don’t care how they call it. They could call it tight, they could call it loose, I don’t care how they call it but it’s gotta be the same for both teams.”
Hukporti’s free throw early in the fourth put the Knicks up 101-82, but the Nets went on a 16-2 run to cut the lead to five points.
A Brunson three and a vicious dunk by Hukporti put the Knicks up 109-98 but the Nets would not go away.
The game got physical as Anunoby and Finney-Smith got into an altercation with nine minutes left that resulted in double technicals.
With a little less than three minutes left, Thomas’ lay up gave him 43 points and cut the lead to 118-113. The Knicks were leading 121-117 when Josh Hart fouled Schroder who made two free throws to make it a two point game.
With 22 seconds left, Schroder missed a lay up but the Knicks couldn’t get the rebound. Cameron Johnson grabbed the offensive board right in front of the Knicks bench. Brooklyn moved the ball around and got it Schroder in the far corner where he hit the go ahead three to set up Brunson’s heroics.
The Nets won a number of challenges that kept them in the game. Two of those led to fouls on Anunoby including one with a little over four minutes that resulted in the Knicks’ forward fouling out.
The Knicks were outscored 40-24 in the fourth quarter and committed five of their 13 turnovers in the final stanza as they continued a concerning trend of failing to close out games.
“The third quarter was pretty good and then going into the fourth, we had some rough minutes at the start of the fourth so we gotta take a look at that and that’s some stuff we can clean up. I think we gotta read the ball a little bit better.” Thibodeau said.
With the Knicks missing Towns and McBride, Thibodeau was forced to play some of the rookies and they may have found something on Hukporti, who brought some intensity and energy to the floor. Pacome Dadiet gave the Knicks 12 solid minutes and scored five points so maybe Thibodeau will start trusting his young players a little more.
In what should be an interesting match up and a rarity in the schedule, the teams will meet again on Sunday at MSG.
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