Jalen Brunson Scores 38 as Knicks Hold Off Bulls

Jalen Brunson put the Knicks on his back in Chicago. He scored 38 points with seven assists, and New York erased a 19-point second-half deficit to beat the Bulls 133-127 on Wednesday night for its second straight win.

That matters for a team that opened 0-3. The Knicks beat Detroit on Tuesday, then went right back to work the next night on the road, and now sit at 2-3 with momentum. Brunson hit 13 of 25 shots and 6 of 10 from three, the kind of night that reminds everyone why New York goes as he goes.

How the Knicks Came Back

Chicago controlled most of this one. Tre Jones hit a half-court shot at the halftime buzzer for a 62-56 lead, and the Bulls stretched it to 19 after the break. Brunson already had 16 at halftime and kept coming.

The swing came in the fourth quarter. New York used a 10-2 run to take control. Jordan Clarkson started it with a turnaround jumper, and Brunson scored to make it 124-114 with 3:45 left. Chicago crawled back to 130-127 with 46 seconds left, but Norman Powell missed a late three that would have tied it, and Brunson and OG Anunoby went 3 for 3 at the line to close it out.

If you had this one on, the moment that stood out was the 10-2 fourth-quarter run, with Brunson scoring the bucket that made it a 10-point game.

Support Cast and Some Scares

Anunoby added 23 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 13 rebounds, Clarkson scored 18 and Landry Shamet finished with 14. Knicks fans held their breath in the first half, though. Towns appeared to hurt his left wrist in a collision with Bulls forward Noa Essengue, and Shamet twisted his right ankle after a dunk. Both went to the locker room and both came back.

For the Bulls, Powell was terrific with 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Caleb Wilson scored 20, Matas Buzelis added 17 and passed 2,000 career points, and Jalen Smith had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Chicago went 18 for 42 from deep and dropped to 1-4.

Bulls fans watching Powell all night saw the good news in this loss: he is giving them a real go-to scorer.

Smacktok Pick Lean

The Knicks visit Philadelphia on Friday night, and we lean higher on Brunson's points. He just took 25 shots and 10 threes in 35 minutes, and with Towns and Shamet both banged up, the ball is going to be in his hands even more if either one is limited.