Brunson’s 55 Points Turn Loss Into Win. NY 136 Washington 132 in OT

December 29, 2024 LouV 2024-25 0
Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

The Wizards — 2nd worst 3-pt shooting team in the NBA — hit seemingly every 3 they took all night while the Knicks seemingly missed all of theirs — but Jalen Brunson put the Knicks on his back to overcome a 10-pt deficit in the 4th quarter and carry them to a win in Overtime, 136-132 on a Saturday night in Washington.

Brunson put on a clinic of determination — scoring 55 points mostly off of sneaky footwork drives and floaters with 2 or 3 defenders doing everything they could to stop him. Brunson was 18-31 from the floor; 3-11 from 3; and 16-17 from the free throw line, with 9 assists.

Josh Hart did Josh Hart things — coming up with Clutch rebounds and scores for 13 pts, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists. And Karl-Anthony Towns ‘chipped in’ 30 points on 13-19 shooting with 14 rebounds, while Mikal Bridges had 21 points on 8-14 shooting but their performances were overshadowed by the tour de force of Brunson in the clutch.

NY was playing the 2nd game of a back-to-back, and Josh Hart mentioned afterwards he felt it.

“Defensively we took a step back today, but playing back-to-back against a young team (that) runs — they’ve been playing well, shooting the ball very well last 5 to 7 games,” said Josh Hart afterwards. “It was good to dig in and claw and get a win.”

“This one — at least for me this one was a really tough back-to-back,” added Hart. “Hopefully rest tomorrow and get back to it.”

“We didn’t have much going, and give them a lot of credit — I thought they played a great game,” said coach Tom Thibodeau. “We got down 8, 10 — and fought like crazy to give ourselves a chance to win. Jalen certainly the shot making was incredible; the playmaking. Karl gave us really good minutes; Mikal was terrific; Josh his hustle. In the 4th quarter we did what we had to do to get it done; and then Overtime obviously.”

NY won their 7th in a row and are now 22-10; Washington falls to 5-24.

1. Wizards Kept Making 3’s; Knicks Kept Missing 3’s

This game was not supposed to be close — as Washington has one of the worst records in the league and were missing their 2 leading scorers, Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole. But the Wizards — coached by Brian Keefe — had actually gone 2-2 in the last 4 games,  beating Charlotte twice — and played an active brand of basketball all night.

  • Justin Champagnie could not miss all night — going 13-15 from the floor (5-6 from 3) for 31 points and 10 rebounds. The 6’6 forward was undrafted out of Pittsburgh and has made a home for himself this year in Washington — his 4th year in the NBA after making the NBA with Toronto in 2021-22 and playing with Boston last year.
  • Justin is the twin brother of Julian Champagnie, who went to St John’s and has made the NBA with San Antonio; the Knicks just faced him on Christmas Day, before which he publicly stated he was from Brooklyn not Staten Island like his bio says. Wikipedia says both brothers were born on Staten Island but grew up in Brooklyn.
  • Wherever he’s from, he couldn’t miss — and neither seemingly could Bilal Coulibaly, the #7 pick in the 2023 draft by Indiana who was traded to Washington on draft night as part of the 3-team Bradley Beal trade. Coulibaly scored 18 points on 8-17 shooting (2-4 from 3). 
  • Washington also got a lot of scoring from Carlton Carrington, the 6’4 guard out of Pittsburgh who was the #14 pick in last June’s draft by Portland who was traded to Washington on draft night with Malcolm Brogdon for Deni Avdija. Carrington had 17 pts on 8-13 shooting (1-4 from 3). 
  • Brogdon scored 22 points and was 3-7 from 3, and the Wizards of course have Alex Sarr — the 7-foot Frenchman who was the #2 pick in last June’s draft. Sarr had 12 points and was 2-4 from 3. Sarr starts while Jonas Valančiūnas, who is #3 in the NBA in free throw shooting at .923 — comes off the Wizard bench.

The Wizards would go 17-38 (44.7 percent) from 3 on the night.

Meanwhile the Knicks kept missing their 3’s — NY would go 10-40 from 3 (25 percent).

2. Precious Slam

The young Wizards played aggressively but made mistakes on defense — the Knicks were able to score at will inside, but kept missing their 3’s. Meanwhile the Wizards kept hitting their 3’s, keeping them in the game.

Midway through the 2nd quarter — Precious Achiuwa had a highlight dunk of the season for NY — and 1.

3. Tied at Half; Wizards Pull Out to 11-Pt Lead in 3rd

It was tied 60-60 at the half.

And then the pesky Wizards went on a run midway through the 3rd to take an 11-point lead — with a string of buckets from the 2nd team — Corey Kispert and Kyshawn George — along with starter Carlton Carrington. A Kispert 3 gave Washington a 96-85 lead late in the 3rd.

Brunson was doing most of the scoring for the Knicks in the 3rd — but it wasn’t enough.

4. Knicks Comeback Starts Early in 4th

Washington was up by 10 early in the 4th when Brunson started to get deadass serious, with a drive for a floater and then a 3 to pull NY within 5.

But Brunson had been in for a while, and was given a breather with Miles McBride coming in for him.

With Brunson out, Karl-Anthony Towns took over the offense — hitting a 3 and it was a 2-pt game just like that. A Towns drive inside and then a Towns 3 put NY up 103-102 with 7:54 left.

Champagnie answered with a 3, but Towns tied it with a drive inside.

5. Wizards Retake 7-Pt Lead with 4 Minutes Left

But pesky Washington would not go away — Champagnie and Coulibaly and Kyshawn George hitting jumpers to put Washington back on top. The Knicks KEPT missing 3’s. A Champagnie 3 with 4:42 left gave Washington a 114-107 lead.

It was starting to look like a loss for the Knicks.

6. Brunson & Knick D Will NOT Be Denied — Send Game to OT

And that’s when Jalen Brunson put on his god damned cape — a drive to the bucket for free throws, and a drive for a bucket and it was 114-111 Washington.

Champagnie answered with a 3; OG Anunoby answered that with a 3; Carrington hit an 18 footer and Washington was up 119-114 with 1:07 left.

It was definitely looking like a loss for the Knicks.

But again Brunson — a drive-and-1 for a 119-117 game. The Knick defense forced Coulibaly into a rushed 3-pointer that missed, and Brunson came down and hit a floater with 11 seconds left for a tie game!

“Jalen Brunson dictates where he wants to go whether attacking his defenders top foot, keeping his defender on his hip to hit floater, finishing in lane, creating contact, backing his defender down and schooling them while using fundamentals and plays to win as he did at all levels,” noted NBA Analyst Ross Kreines.

After a Wizards timeout, they got the ball to Coulibaly but the hounding Knick defense forced him into a miss — Josh Hart grabbing the rebound with .7 seconds left.

NY drew up an inbounds play for Towns at the basket for the layup — but his shot rimmed out due to good defense by Sarr and it was on to OT.

7. Hart & Brunson & Knicks Take It in OT

In OT it was Josh Hart — grabbing an offensive rebound and taking it to the bucket in the same possession, then grabbing a defensive rebound and hitting up Mikal Bridges for a slam, then another bucket a possession later as the Knicks took control.

Then Jalen Brunson took over again, with back-to-back floaters off drives and NY was up 129-123 with 1:21 left.

But Washington stayed pesky until the end — Sarr hitting free throws, Coulibaly hitting a jumper, the Wizards forcing a Knick turnover, and Brogdan missing a 3 that would have tied it but then making a deuce to pull Washington within 130-129 with 20 seconds left.

It was up to Brunson to make free throws — he went 4-4 on the next 2 Knick possessions to give NY a 134-131 lead with 4 seconds left.

The Knicks fouled Brogdan on purpose so he couldn’t get off a 3 — he hit his first free throw, purposely missed the 2nd — but Josh Hart grabbed the rebound, and made his free throws with .7 seconds left for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401704995

 

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