The New York Knicks ensured their domestic fans that their Sunday would be bookended with victories over teams known for wearing red.
Though obviously lacking the stakes of the United States men’s national hockey team’s Olympic clash with Canada, the Knicks ended the weekend on a high note with a 105-99 victory over the Chicago Bulls at United Center.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the way with 28 points and 11 rebounds, accompanying them with three steals. Jalen Brunson struggled from the field again (7-of-19) en route to 19 tallies but Landry Shamet assisted off the bench with 16 points, most of them earned through a united 9-of-17 mark from deep in a collaboration with Towns.
Forced into a back-to-back, New York (37-21) got into Chicago late after an emphatic comeback victory over Houston in Manhattan. An early Knicks surge and lead disappeared fairly quickly as they tried to find their footing, even though Chicago also played on Saturday night.
The radically different Bulls, fresh off several trade deadline moves hinting at a full-on rebuild, took a two-point lead into the second quarter, which saw them go up by as much as eight while handling their undersized post affairs thanks in part to the Knicks’ lack of Mitchell Robinson.
Another strong effort from Towns, who tallied 17 in the opening half, kept the Knicks in the game and consecutive triples from Shamet tied the contest in the last minute of opening 24 before Rob Dillingham gave the Bulls the one-point intermission lead with a free throw.
An 8-0 run at the top of the third, featuring an Anunoby finger roll punctuating threes from Brunson and Mikal Bridges, gave the Knicks a lasting lead that summitted at 13 over the course of the second half and held until the closing third of the final frame.
Chicago sharpshooting, which saw six different Bulls hit multiple three-pointers, kept the hosts in the victorious conversation A Matas Buzelis three with 3:42 remaining gave Chicago a late lead, leading to Towns’ reinsertion just over 30 ticks later. A personal run of six straight from the All-Star, beginning with a three of his own, gave the Knicks the eternal advantage before a corner triple from Bridges finally put the visitors up six and pacified the Bulls with 26 on the clock.
Sunday’s game against the reeling Bulls was a landmark for the Knicks, who faced brief forward Guerschon Yabusele for the first time since trading him to Chicago earlier this month. New York would later use the yields from that trade to barter for former New Orleans Pelican and current metropolitan sparkplug Jose Alvarado.
Despite struggling to live up to his Manhattan expectations, Yabusele was warmly greeted by his former teammates and wound up pulling in a game-best 13 rebounds with 11 points. His part in the spirted effort, however, wasn’t enough for the Bulls (24-34) to avoid a ninth consecutive loss. Further plagued by 17 turnovers, Chicago was paced by 15 points for Buzelis in defeat.
Having taken two of the first three get-togethers, New York will be back in Chicago for one more meeting in April. In the meantime, the Knicks get another road test on Tuesday night, which will situate them against the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/Peacock).
