The New York Knicks hosted the Sacramento Kings last night at Madison Square Garden, seeking revenge on Head Coach Mike Brown’s former team. These two teams went head to head against each other just a few weeks back and it did not end well for the Knicks.
In the last matchup, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson suffered a right ankle sprain in the opening minutes of the first quarter and the offense disappeared after he was removed from the game. Nevertheless, things were different this time around as the club sought out their third straight victory with Brunson leading the way.
Sacramento was in control to begin the game as they held onto the lead for most of the first quarter. Early points by guard Demar DeRozan and forward Domantas Sabonis allowed the Kings to apply consistent offensive pressure. It took a little while for the Knicks to get rolling offensively, but once they got going they began to fire on all cylinders.
Both Mikal Bridges and Brunson had a lot to do with the pivot of momentum in the opening frame as they had a combined 19 points which gave the Knicks the upper hand to wrap up the first. However, the Kings answered back and they began to chip away at their 10 point deficit in the second quarter.
DeRozan led the way for the opposition, scoring 22 points and shooting a staggering 50 percent from the field. He also managed to give the Kings just their second lead of the game just for it to be spoiled courtesy of a layup by Karl-Anthony Towns late in the quarter. The Knicks would head into the break up by just one point, 52-51, as they looked to regroup before the second half of play.
“I thought in the first half we didn’t do a good job of taking care of the basketball,” said coach Brown. “We didn’t do a great job of hitting the paint and spraying the basketball, but our defense stayed pretty solid throughout the game.”
Neither team was willing to let the other take a commanding lead in the third. The Knicks were playing very good defense, but struggled to hit some shots that they normally would make which allowed the Kings to stay in the game. OG Anunoby had a couple of costly turnovers to end the third and the score was all knotted up going into the fourth.
Towns hit two threes early on in the quarter and really got the ball rolling for the Knicks. From there, the Knicks gained more and more steam on the offensive end with Brunson getting hot down the stretch. He came in the clutch once again tallying seven unanswered points and ballooned the Knicks to a 12 point lead.
This gave the Knicks all the momentum they needed to grab their third straight victory by a final score of 103-87. Brunson ended up with 28 points, Towns had a double-double, Bridges totaled 18 points while shooting 62 percent from the field, and the defense gave the offense the opportunity to hit the shots that were necessary to win the game.
“Our guys have tried to give it to us especially defensively,” stated coach Brown “And when you can bring it on that end of the floor you’re going to survive some of the mistakes that you are making offensively until you get that corrected.”
Overall it was a hard fought Knicks win and they need to keep the good times rolling if they want to take down the Toronto Raptors tonight at 7:30 p.m.