It was a tale of two halves, but the combination of Jalen Brunson and Jordan Clarkson helped the Knicks overcome a hot start by the Jazz to defeat Utah, 134-117, on Wednesday night.

New York ended their two-game losing streak and is now 42-25 on the season.

Here are the takeaways...

- Coming off back-to-back losses, the Knicks were a tad slow on offense and defense. They committed two turnovers early and Utah was making baskets, starting off 4-of-5 from three, causing coach Mike Brown to call a timeout. That wouldn't be the only timeout by Brown in the first quarter, as the head coach called for it with a minute to go and the Jazz up 36-22.

A big reason for that is the three-point defense. While Utah's shots were going down, a lot of the threes were relatively uncontested and they made 9-of-11 to open the game. The first quarter ended with Utah up 41-26.

On the offensive end, the Knicks were just 3-of-12 from three, and shot just 33 percent from the field. Brunson was their high man with eight points. Josh Hart (knee) was out and the lack of energy he brings was felt. Clarkson, getting early minutes in his stead and did his best to help, putting up four points on 2-of-5 shooting.

- Karl-Anthony Towns -- who missed most of the first quarter after he went to the locker room -- returned to start the second and made his first field goal, which was a three, early on. But the big man turned the ball over, which led to another Jazz three-pointer and another Brown timeout early in the second quarter.

Despite the turnover, Towns was the reason for a run to cut Utah's lead to just nine points. Towns would utilize his size to get into the lane and he started to hit his threes. The defensive intensity also increased, with the Knicks turning turnovers into easy points.

New York would cut the deficit to six on a couple of occasions, but lapses allowed the Jazz to go into halftime up 65-56.

- Brunson buoyed the Knicks in the third quarter with his scoring. The defensive intensity also got better as the quarter went on and others began contributing on the offensive end, including OG Anunoby, who made some timely threes and hit a pair of free throws to give New York a 93-92 lead, their first lead since it was 3-0.

Brunson capped off the third with an improbable and-one to give the Knicks a 96-94 lead. Brunson scored 15 of his 25 points to this point in the third quarter.

- Clarkson imposed his will early in the fourth, getting a tip-in to start the Knicks scoring, and following up with a three to put the Knicks up by seven, the largest NY lead of the game to that point. That advantage would continue to grow as the Knicks' experience shone through as the young Jazz team turned the ball over and lost defensive assignments regularly.

- Clarkson scored a season-high 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Brunson wound up with a 28-point, four-rebound and eight-assist statline. He also had three steals.

Towns had 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Anunoby had 22 points, two rebounds, one assist, two steals and one block while Mikal Bridges had five points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 27 minutes.

- For the Jazz, Brice Sensabaugh, who gave the Knicks fits in the first half with his three-point shooting, finished with 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting.

Game MVP: Jordan Clarkson

While Brunson's third quarter gave the Knicks the lead, it was Clarkson's energetic play that kept the game within reach and helped them close out the win.

Here are the takeaways...

Game MVP: Jordan Clarkson

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