It anything but the Big Easy for the New York Knicks, but they managed to escape from the bayou with yet another win.
OG Anunoby, Jalen Brunson, and Karl-Anthony Towns kept the light on for missing starters as the Knicks earned a 130-125 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night at Smoothie King Center. With the win, the Knicks (23-9) moved to within a game of idle Detroit for the top seed on the premature Eastern Conference playoff bracket.
Anunoby (23 points, 11 rebounds), Brunson (28 points, 10 assists), and Towns (12 point, 12 rebounds) each put up double-doubles on a night where the Knicks were missing Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson.
Rookie Mohamed Diawara, back in the starting five sans Hart, put up an infantile career-best with 18 points while Mikal Bridges tied Brunson with 10 assists. Miles McBride returned to action after just over three weeks off with an ankle injury and scored 14 points, all but a couple coming during a fourth quarter takeover.
The opening dozen minutes of Monday’s game were defined by an unexpected Villanova alum: as Diawara hit 5-of-6 from the get-go, Saddiq Bey broke loose for 23 points in the opening period alone, scoring over half of the Pelicans’ points as they nursed a 41-37 lead.
Diawara and Bey’s breakouts proved contagious, as both New York and New Orleans broke 50 (percent) and 70 (points) in shooting and scoring respectively. Neither team earned a double-figure lead in that span, though the Pelicans put on a show in both inside (32-20 inside the paint) and outside (Bey and Jordan Poole uniting for seven threes) shooting.
A defensive crackdown allowed reeling New Orleans to flourish in ugly settings but the Knicks re-established the offense as the top of the fourth by scoring 13 of the first 16 period points. McBride sank the equalizer just before four minutes went by before Towns turned an Anunoby steal and a Tyler Kolek rebound into the go-ahead tally. That still wasn’t enough to put the pesky Pelicans away, as a late breakout from Trey Murphy III didn’t afford the Knicks any distance.
A lasting lead, however, was established when McBride found Anunoby for a driving double 12 seconds into the penultimate minute. From there, New Orleans was forced to trade baskets with Brunson, who provided further fuel for his Clutch Player of the Year defense with 10 points over the final five-plus minutes.
The Knicks were officially allowed to start celebrating when Poole’s would-be equalizer found the top of the backboard clanked off the top of the backboard between five and six seconds remaining. McBride then sank more free throws to create the final margin and end the fourth by contributing to 16 of the Knicks’ last 34 points through shots and assists.
New Orleans (8-26) wasted a season-best performance from franchise face Zion Williamson, who earned 32 points on 11-of-16 from the field, in its fourth straight loss. The Pelicans also played shorthanded, as depth star Jose Alvarado served the first half of a two-game suspension for his role in an on-court bout with Mark Williams in a Saturday game against Phoenix. New Orleans visits Madison Square Garden on March 24 to round out its yearly pair with the Knicks.
In the meantime, the Knicks will close out both this three-game road trip and the 2025 calendar year on Wednesday night, where they hope to save the ball dropping for Time Square against the San Antonio Spurs (7 p.m. ET, MSG/NBA TV).
