On way to royal beating, Jalen and Josh rally Knicks past Kings
KNICKS 120 KINGS 109
Two injury-riddled teams entered Madison Square Garden looking to secure a win that’ll help its chances of staying out of the Play-In Tournament Thursday night.
Hours after learning Julius Randle opted for season-ending shoulder surgery, the Knicks ended the night on a positive note with a comeback 120-109 win over the Sacramento Kings. A poor first half saw the home team trail by as many as 21 points, but a second-half surge down the stretch ended the Knicks’ losing steak at three.
The win also ties Tom Thibodeau’s squad with the Orlando Magic for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Magic own the tiebreaker after winning the season series, 3-1.
Jalen Brunson‘s three-pointer midway through the fourth quarter cued the MSG crowd to erupt while the Knicks went up 10. His contested layup with 5:21 remaining stretched the lead to double digits again while the star stood with his arms raised looking for a foul call, which has been a common theme for him. Brunson eventually finished with a team-high 35 points on 12-of-20 shooting.
The Knicks will now pack their bags for their final four-game road trip of the season, beginning with a matchup against the Chicago Bulls on Friday.
Early on, the Kings looked poised to hand the Knicks their fifth-straight loss with De’Aaron Fox doing most of the damage for Sacramento. He finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Double-double machine Domantas
Sabonis logged 17 points and 11 rebounds. Fox and Sabonis recorded 39 and 6 minutes played, respectively, with their team without sixth man Malik Monk and New York native Kevin Huerter. The loss keeps Sacramento in the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Josh Hart, who scored 11 timely first-half points to aid the Knicks, finished with 31 points, eight assists and 10 rebounds. He charged a quick Knicks surge before halftime to keep the deficit within single digits. He dashed down the court and finished an and-1, eurostep layup on Sabonis. After Sabonis retaliated with a turnaround slam, Brunon responded with a trey to keep the halftime deficit at eight.
It was a much better finish after being down 15 at the end of the first while allowing the Kings to shoot 66.7% from the field and 70% from downtown.
The Knicks later won the third quarter, 3527, after getting six straight points from Donte DiVincenzo in the final minute. His surge energized the MSG crowd, again, as Fox hit a jumper and secured a stop to tie the game at 87.
But the Knicks locked down defensively and followed the lead of Brunson. The trend will certainly continue with Randle sidelined and OG Anunoby (elbow) continuing his rehab.
Sacramento’s Keegan Murray shot 4-of10 from downtown and finished with 18 points. Guard Keon Ellis scored 11 points and dished four assists.
DiVincenzo ended with 21 points. Miles McBride battled some foul trouble (four) but finished with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists.