The Knicks defeated the Bulls 114-91 for their sixth win in a row on Friday night.
Facing Chicago for the second time in three days, the Knicks used the same starting lineup of Jalen Brunson, RJ Barrett, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Quentin Grimes.
Here are the takeaways….
- The Knicks continued their hot three-point shooting from Wednesday with back-to-back threes from Brunson and Barrett, but just like the last game the Bulls continued their hot shooting and went on a 13-2 run early in the first quarter. After being the last starter to score, Grimes went on a tear, hitting three three-pointers in a two-minute span to give the Knicks back the lead at 24-23. Some poor shots and turnovers from both sides put the scoring to a halt in the final minutes, but a last-second three from Chicago’s Coby White put the Bulls up 32-29 after one.
The first quarter had eight lead changes, but the Knicks defense was not great in that opening frame. The Bulls shot 67 percent to New York’s 42 percent with the one saving grace for the Knicks being their three-point shooting. New York went 6-for-12 from downtown to keep the game close.
- The second unit of Jericho Sims, Isaiah Hartenstein, Miles McBride, Immanuel Quickley along with Barrett started the second quarter. While the defense wasn’t better, Sims’ offensive rebounding was clutch in getting easy shots when the threes stopped falling for the Knicks. Even easy shots from Barrett weren’t falling as the Bulls went out on a 9-0 run. The Knicks went on a stretch of not making a field goal for five minutes, contributing to the Bulls’ biggest lead of the game to this point (7). Brunson took control of the offense, hitting three straight threes to give the Knicks back the lead. A 17-5 run to end the second put the Knicks up 58-53 at halftime.
Brunson and Grimes went a combined 9-10 from three in the first half. They are the only Knicks to score double-digits in the first half, each getting 15 points. The Knicks shot just 36 percent, but the three ball propelled their comeback. The Bulls shot 50 percent in the second, but were cold in the closing minutes.
- The Knicks scored the first five points in the third to open their biggest lead of the game (10) at this point. New York would extend that lead thanks to good defense and great rebounding. However, Zach LaVine led the Bulls on a 7-0 run to cut the Knicks lead to eight, but Brunson hit his sixth three-pointer (a career-high) to stop the run and give momentum back to New York. The Knicks went into the final quarter up 87-75.
Barrett had a good quarter, scoring 11 points while the Knicks as a whole dominated the boards. Through three quarters, the Knicks out-rebounded the Bulls 46-33 and 13-1 on offensive rebounds.
- The second unit began the fourth and Quickley made his first FG with 11 minutes to go, he was 0-9 before the layup. Again, forcing turnovers and great rebounding allowed the Knicks to get out to a 105-79 lead with six minutes to go. The Bulls scored just four points in the first seven minutes of the final quarter. They would score just 16 points in the frame. With 4:28 left in the game, the Bulls emptied the bench. It would take Tom Thibodeau until 2:58 left to empty his. Derrick Rose came in to a standing ovation from the Chicago crowd.
- Knicks had three players with 20-plus points, Barrett (27), Grimes (22) and Brunson (22). Randle was one point shy of being the fourth. Grimes had five threes, a season-high, and the team as a whole made 17 threes. The Knicks out-rebounded the Bulls 61-45 and 15-2 in offensive boards.