Knicks overcome shaky start, cruise past Oklahoma City
OKLAHOMA CITY — RJ Barrett scored a career-high 32 points and Julius Randle netted a triple-double to lead the New York Knicks past the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-97 on Saturday.
The Knicks trailed by nine after one quarter with the Thunder shooting 70.6% from the floor, but they outscored the Thunder 97-66 over the final 36 minutes.
Al Horford had 16 points to lead seven Oklahoma City players in double figures.
The Knicks overcame the deficit by forcing 18 turnovers while committing just 10 of their own. New York also outrebounded Oklahoma City 45-40 and grabbed seven more offensive boards than the Thunder.
“Obviously, we started the game slowly,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “That was a big concern, particularly with the early start. But we responded well after that, and I thought we played strong in the second half. I thought our willingness to share the ball, once we got our defense going, it got us into the open floor and we were able to get some good scoring opportunities.”
The Knicks were coming off their worst defensive performance of the season, a 134-101 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday. Following a challenging opening quarter, the Knicks held the Thunder to just 42.4% from the floor in the last three periods.
“In Milwaukee, we weren’t really us,” Barrett said. “We didn’t feel like we played as hard as we could. Today, we just tried to show who we are. Just be tough on both ends of the floor.”
The Thunder, missing leading scorer Shai Gilgeous Alexander, started fast with Luguentz Dort scoring eight of his 14 points in the first frame.
The Thunder couldn’t sustain their pace though, and the Knicks took command in the second quarter, outscoring Oklahoma City 34-23 to take a two-point lead into halftime.
NETS 100, PISTONS 95
NEW YORK — James Harden scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and had his ninth tripledouble with the Nets to help
Brooklyn beat Detroit.
Harden also added 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his 55th triple-double as Brooklyn improved to 26-13 with its 12th win in its last 16 games.
Kyrie Irving added 18 points and Landry Shamet had 15 off the bench. DeAndre Jordan chipped in with 14 and Joe Harris contributed 10 points.
Jerami Grant scored 22 points as Detroit fell to 10-28. Saddiq Bey and Delon Wright each finished with 13. Mason Plumlee added 11 and Rodney McGruder had 10.
The second of three regular-season matchups between the Eastern Conference teams was Brooklyn’s chance to get even for its 122-111 loss in Detroit on Feb. 9. That loss was part of a stretch in which the Nets dropped three of four.