Another Jalen Brunson burner was enough for the New York Knicks to master the Miami Heat.
Fresh off only their second loss of the season at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks redeemed themselves by the end of the weekend with a 132-125 win over their South Beach visitors on Sunday evening in Manhattan.
Brunson’s latest metropolitan masterpiece saw him score 47 points, a new career-high under MSG’s roof. It was a sterling recovery from the Knicks captain, who missed several would-be clutch baskets toward the end of Friday’s defeat to Philadelphia.
In addition to Brunson’s mastery, Mikal Bridges scored 24 points while OG Anunoby had 18 in the second half. All that and more, such as Josh Hart earning 13 points and 10 rebounds, was more than enough to make up for a quiet night from Karl-Anthony Towns, who was held to but a single double on the scoresheet.
The fourth and final meeting between the Knicks and Heat was an offensive explosion, with the two sides uniting for 37 successful sinks with an extra point on the line. Twenty came from the arms of the New Yorkers, marking the fourth time that the Knicks (20-8) have earned a double decade from deep this season.
With Kel’el Ware and Jaime Jaquez Jr. handling scoring for the Heat, Brunson and fellow Villanova alum Bridges picked up the slack on the Knicks’ side. The couple of Cats united for 45 of the Knicks’ 66 points over the first 24 minutes, including every part of a 21-7 run that turned a 10-point deficit into a four-point lead.
The Knicks boosted their lead up to 10 and maintained the advantage in the second half but Miami kept inching back thanks to Ware and Norman Powell. A fifth Brunson foul with just over three minutes remaining sent Jaquez to the line for successful singles that finally narrowed the gap to two.
But, from there, the Knicks re-established their double-figure lead with eight points in a row: a driving double from Hart gave way to a triple from Bridges before Brunson earned a three the old-fashioned way, going to the line after a flagrant was called on Powell for an illegal closeout. It was a stark contrast from Friday’s finale, which saw the Knicks fall to fatigue against Philadelphia.
Miami (15-14) was once again forced to console itself with the breakout antics of Ware, who posted a 28-point, 19-rebound double-double. The Heat split the four-game series with the Knicks this year and have dropped seven of their last eight amidst a tumble back to the premature Play-In portions.
With their series against the Heat doused, he Knicks briefly hit the road before returning home for Christmas, facing the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night (8 p.m. ET, MSG).
