A close overtime victory barely compensates for a glaring Knicks flaw on display at Madison Square Garden.
All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 54 points, and Mikal Bridges came up with a massive block on Bulls center Nikola Vucevic to force overtime in New York’s 113-111 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.
But a lack of effective perimeter defense is responsible for a game against the Eastern Conference’s No. 10 seed going to overtime in the first place.
The Knicks won their fifth of their last six games and their first game after the weeklong All-Star break — but ahead of Friday’s second leg of a back-to-back against the East’s No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s clear the three-point defense continues to need work.
The Knicks entered Thursday’s matchup against the Bulls as 12.5-point favorites but — without OG Anunoby (foot) and Josh Hart (knee) — found themselves in a dogfight against one of the fastest-playing teams in all of basketball.
The Bulls didn’t need to high-velocity hoops to keep things interesting on Thursday.
All they did was move the ball behind the three-point line.
And after shooting just 5-of-18 from downtown in the first half — largely on quality looks that didn’t go their way — Chicago connected on 10 of their next 20 looks in the second half to erase an 11-point Knicks lead.
They gave up another one with under 90 seconds left in regulation, a Josh Giddey three that put the Bulls up, 101-100. And Nikola Vucevic made a contested three on the following possession to put Chicago up by two with under a minute left on the game clock.
This, of course, is when Jalen Brunson plays his best basketball. As all of Madison Square Garden rose to its feet to cheer the Knicks’ captain in crunch time, Brunson connected on a side-step two to tie the game at 104 with 22.7 seconds left on the clock.
Brunson finished with 22 points and 12 assists, and Towns — who missed 9 of his first 10 shots and finished 2-of-15 from the field at the half — ended the night with 32 points and 18 rebounds, courtesy of an explosive third quarter.
The Knicks trailed the Bulls, 21-19, after the first quarter but opened the second quarter with a 20-11 run, fueled by Brunson’s steady scoring. Miles McBride, who started in place of the injured Hart, brought defensive activity and three-point shooting, finishing with 23 points, three steals and three blocks.
By halftime, New York held a 50-43 lead, but their defensive issues lingered. The Bulls shot 19-of-48 (or 39.6 percent) from downtown, with three starters making three or more of their attempts from deep.
Before the game, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau emphasized the importance of transition defense, knowing Chicago’s speed and perimeter shooting could pose problems.
“You can’t let your guard down. You can’t jog, you can’t stab. You’ve got to get back and protect the basket first and you’ve gotta get matched up,” Thibodeau said pregame.
Despite his warnings, New York struggled to contain Chicago’s uptempo attack early, giving up a barrage of open looks from deep.
The Bulls didn’t connect on those looks early on, but the Cleveland Cavaliers — awaiting the Knicks for their second leg of a back-to-back — will feast on those opportunities should they become available.
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