The New York Knicks met up with the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo’s return from injury on Friday. Luckily for New York, his return did not matter, as they came out victorious over Milwaukee 118-109 to improve to 12-6 on the season.
Additionally, the Knicks have now advanced to the quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup, where they will play the Toronto Raptors next week.
Jalen Brunson was phenomenal once again for the Knicks
Jalen Brunson has been having an unreal season for the Knicks this year, and he continued his dominance with yet another big performance against the Bucks.
Brunson led the way for the Knicks from the jump, finishing with 37 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the field and 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. Brunson also added five assists to his tally and converted nine of 10 free throws.
He is currently in the midst of an MVP-level campaign, to which his head coach, Mike Brown, amplified. Brunson is averaging a career-high 29.1 points per game this season.
“He should be talked about as a potential MVP. There’s not enough chatter. The guy had 37 tonight on 12-of-21. He gets blitzed often and he makes the right basketball play,” Brown said about Brunson (h/t Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News).
Josh Hart delivered another valiant effort
Josh Hart has had a stretch of string performances lately, and he delivered another one with a tough assignment against the Bucks.
Hart was tasked with guarding Antetokounmpo for most of the game. The superstar still got his way with 30 points and 15 rebounds in his first game from an adductor injury, but Hart made plays in the moments that counted.
Most notably, he got a huge stop while guarding him with the Knicks up by seven with a minute to go in the fourth. That defensive stop untimely sealed the win for New York, and it showcased the level of effort he gives on a nightly basis.
Hart finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. He was also a team-high +15 in 40 minutes of action.
Karl-Anthony Towns regressed after two strong outings
Despite the victory, Karl-Anthony Towns had a night he would like to forget. After two great performances in the wins over the Nets and Hornets, Towns couldn’t continue that dominance against Milwaukee.
The three-point shot haunted Towns again, as he attempted only two three-pointers in 36 minutes, converting one of them. He struggled from two-point range, in particular, as he was just 1-for-6 on two-pointers, good for 2-for-8 overall, and finished with only nine points.
The Knicks will be glad that they walked out of the building with a victory despite the rough performance, but they can’t afford to have inconsistent output from their All-Star. They need him to find some consistency and become a strong force for them.
Overview
It wasn’t the prettiest of wins for the Knicks, but they got a vintage Brunson performance that helped catapult them to a third straight win. They have a tough matchup ahead, with the red-hot Raptors on deck for the Knicks on Sunday.