Jalen Brunson scored a season-high 34 points to lead the New York Knicks to a 129-119 win over the host Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.
Brunson shot 14 of 20 from the floor, including 13 of 14 from inside the arc. His 34 points tied his regular-season career high, and he also contributed a game-high nine assists.
Brunson wasn’t the only Knicks player who produced a big night from the floor, as RJ Barrett and Julius Randle scored 25 each as New York snapped a two-game losing streak. Randle added 11 rebounds and Barrett had eight boards.
Barrett had slumped of late, shooting just 26.3 percent from the floor and going 2 of 25 from behind the 3-point arc in his previous five games. However, he said he wasn’t going to be afraid to keep firing shots.
It paid off for him quickly Monday, as he hit all four of his shots in the first quarter to help New York grab a 38-34 lead.
He made his first three 3-point tries against the Thunder and finished 10 of 16 from the floor and 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Randle was 9 of 16 from the field as the Knicks shot 52.6 percent, tying their second-best shooting performance of the season.
Immanuel Quickly, who was just 3 of 16 from the floor in the previous three games, scored 18 off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting and sank a season-high four 3-pointers.
The Knicks took the lead for good late in the first quarter, then seized control in the second, when they scored eight points off five Thunder turnovers and held Oklahoma City to just 6-of-18 shooting from the floor.
Randle scored nine points in the frame.
The Knicks finished with 72-60 edge on points in the paint.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 30 points while Luguentz Dort matched his season high with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Josh Giddey added 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Jalen Williams scored 13.
Gilgeous-Alexander also had seven assists.
The Knicks finished a five-games-in-seven-days road trip 3-2.
Oklahoma City has dropped back-to-back games.
The teams split their two-game season series.
–Field Level Media