Brunson’s 24 points power Knicks over Nuggets for third win in a row
Jalen Brunson scored 24 points, RJ Barrett had 21, and the host New York Knicks beat the Denver Nuggets 116-110 on Saturday.
Julius Randle scored 20 points, Josh Hart added 13 and Immanuel Quickley finished with 10 for the Knicks, who have won three straight to solidify their spot among the top six teams in the Eastern Conference.
Jamal Murray scored 25 points and Nikola Jokic had 24 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as the Nuggets lost for the fifth time in their past six games yet still sit atop the Western Conference. Aaron Gordon scored 14, Jeff Green added 12 and Michael Porter Jr. and Bruce Brown finished with 11 apiece for Denver.
New York (42-30) led by 13 early in the second quarter but the Nuggets rallied. A 9-2 run cut the deficit to one point and seven straight points later in the period gave them their first lead, and Denver took a 67-62 advantage into halftime.
Denver (47-24) stretched the lead to 8471 near the midway point of the third quarter with a 13-4 run, but the Knicks chipped away the rest of the third quarter. Mitchell Robinson had two tip-ins, Barrett made two free throws and Quickley hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-0 run.
Jokic broke the string with a layup but New
York tied it at 91 heading into the fourth.
The Knicks scored the first seven points of the final period, but 3-pointers by Christian Braun and Green cut the Nuggets deficit to 100-97. After New York went up by 104-99 with 7:40 remaining, Brown split a pair of free throws, Jokic made a spinning layup and Porter hit a 3-pointer to give the Nuggets a 105-104 lead with 5:12 remaining.
Barrett made a driving layup and Murray hit a 3-pointer off of an offensive rebound to put Denver up by two points.
Randle hit two buckets and Brunson a floater around a layup by Jokic to give the Knicks the lead, 112-110.
Both teams had empty possessions and Brunson made two free throws with 43.4 seconds left to increase New York’s lead to four. Jokic missed a 3-pointer and Brunson fed Robinson for an alley-oop to seal it.
Magic 113, Clippers 108: Markelle Fultz scored 28 points and Wendell Carter Jr. had 27 points and 12 rebounds on Saturday as Orlando swept the two-game series from host Los Angeles.
Paul George led the Clippers with 30 points, while Kawhi Leonard sat out because of right knee injury management.
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Trail Blazers: Portland forward Justise Winslow hasn’t played since spraining his left ankle in a game on Dec. 21 and is likely to miss the rest of the season.
Winslow, who turns 27 next week, will continue with his rehabilitation and be “reevaluated in the coming weeks,” per the team.
The Miami Heat selected Winslow with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He was averaging 6.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists through the first 29 games (11 starts) of the season.
The Blazers (31-39) are in 13th place in the Western Conference, 2 1⁄2 games out of the final play-in spot.
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