NEW YORK — It was less than a week ago that the Knicks were left to explain away a disappointing loss at San Antonio to a young Spurs team with one of the worst records in the NBA. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich had a clear vision of what was missing that night.
Jalen Brunson sat out that game with a sore right hip t and while the Knicks got plenty of production in his place, there was something missing — the leadership and ability to get the Knicks what they needed at the most crucial times. And in the rematch, the Knicks needed everything he had.
Brunson scored a regula-season, career-high 38 points to lift the Knicks to a hard-earned 117-114 win over the Spurs at Madison Square Garden.
He scored early — 13 first-quarter points — and then with the game slipping away, he scored late. Down 111-110 Brunson drove past Keldon Johnson down the right side of the lane with 3:03 left to put the Knicks in front. And then after saving the ball after a jump ball, he delivered a 20-foot elbow jumper. One more time he lined up in the same spot and drained another jumper to push the Knicks safely in front by four.
“I want them to recognize Brunson will be on the floor tonight,” Popovich said before the game. “He wasn’t there last time. He’s a monster. He’s got such a toughness about him. High basketball IQ, hard to guard. He really, really tests your discipline, gets you jumping off your feet. For a little guy, he has great pivot that he uses oftentimes in the paint, that sort of thing. But he’s also unselfish. So concentrating on him is pretty important.
“And Julius [Randle]. You hope you can match his physicality and energy on the courtt. Everything else is basketball stuff. Are you going to turn it over a lot? Are you going to block out? Are you going to get back in transition? Are you going to shoot uncontested shots? Are you going to take bad shots? That’s the same for every team that goes out there. But sometimes it’s about matchups. And if we can control those two guys, we have a shot.”
With RJ Barrett still sidelined with a lacerated right index finger it was on Brunson and Randle who carried the offensive load. After exiting and heading to the locker room late in the third quarter, Brunson quickly re-entered the game with 11.1 seconds left in the period to orchestrate the offense and fed Randle, who buried an elbow jumper to end the quarter.
The Spurs were hard to shake, though. After Brunson gave the his team the 116-112 lead the Knicks turned the ball over and Randle missed on a jumper, a pair of free throws by Keldon Johnson with 29.7 seconds left made it a two-point game. The Knicks lost the ball again and San Antonio was set to inbounds with 5.7 seconds left. But rookie Jeremy Sochan was whistled for a five-second violation, giving the ball back to the Knicks. After a timeout, Immanuel Quickley inbounded to Evan Fournier and he was fouled with 4.1 seconds left. Fournier drained the first free throw but left the door open as he misfired on the second.
San Antonio took its final timeout with 3.5 seconds left and this time they got the ball in, but with Quentin Grimes guarding Johnson, he tried to pump fake on a long three-pointer and the clock ran out without even getting a shot off.
It took just 14 seconds for Brunson to get on the board, knifing through the San Antonio defense for a layup. Three minutes into the game Brunson was 3-for-3 from the floor and the Spurs were calling timeout down, 10-2. In that opening quarter Brunson piled up 13 points.
The Knicks built leads of as much as 13 in the first half — briefly falling behind before rallying for a 62-55 halftime lead. Brunson led the way with 19 points, shooting 9-for-14 shooting from the field.
While Brunson has excelled at getting the Knicks organized offensively it doesn’t always work out and just 55 seconds into the game that was on display. With the shot clock running down Randle threw the ball to Mitchell Robinson near the top of the key. Robinson dribbled to the foul line and tried a fadeaway jumper, just the fifth shot outside of 10 feet in his career, and it only went about half the distance for a shot clock violation.
