Knicks Fall Asleep; Bulls Catch Fire from 3. Chicago 139 NY 126

January 5, 2025 LouV 2024-25 0
OG Anunoby drives to basket against Josh Giddey. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

It had all the making of a bad loss from the start:

  • NY was just coming off a tough loss in Oklahoma the night before, and were fighting a let down after the loss, plus physical tiredness, playing their 2nd game in 2 nights,
  • Chicago had 3 nights off beforehand, and
  • It was Derek Rose night in Chicago, and the Bulls would certainly want to represent that well by winning.

And so it happened — the Knicks were up by 9 points at the half, but fell asleep in the 3rd quarter and the Bulls caught fire — with Coby White and Zach LaVine hitting 3’s from everywhere, and Nikola Vučević scoring inside. The Bulls outscored NY 41-17 in the period and continued the onslaught at the start of the 4th, going up by 19 points with 10 minutes left. 

That’s when the Knicks finally woke up — going on a furious comeback led by Karl-Anthony Towns that pulled them to within 6 with 6:12 left. NY even pulled to within 5 with 5:47 left on a 3 from the corner by Landry Shamet — but alas the 3 was waived off due to an offensive foul by Cameron Payne, and Zach LaVine was fouled from 3 down the other end resulting in a 6-pt swing and ballgame.

Final score Chicago 139 NY 126 on a Saturday night in Chicago.

Coby White would finish 9-11 from 3 (and 11-17 overall) for 33 pts; Lavine also had 33, 13-21 shooting (3-6 from 3), while Vukovic had 22 on 10-19 shooting. Towns led NY with 44 points on 17-29 shooting with 16 rebounds, while Jalen Brunson had 33 on 11-20 shooting.

“Third quarter was a problem,” said coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “That’s their style of play — they play fast. We missed a couple of shots, and were slow getting back, and they closed the gap right away. It was an uphill battle after that, we got some life in the 4th, cut it to 6, had a shot, but fell short.”

“I thought offensively we scored plenty;” added Thibs. “Defensively, we have to do better.”

NY falls to 24-12; Chicago improves to 16-19.

1. Derek Rose Night

Before the game there was a big celebration for Derek Rose, as the Bulls retired his number 3 to the rafters. Parts of the ceremony were shown on the halftime show of the broadcast.

Rose had two great tenures with the Knicks but you knew this would be a night when karma would be looking over the Bulls shoulder, not to mention the team might want to try their best to win for him.

2. NY Up by 9 At the Half

NY was coming off their tough loss to Oklahoma City the night before, and were sluggish at first but still managed to take a 4-pt lead after a quarter and a 9-pt lead at the half.

Jalen Brunson was doing much of the scoring for NY — he finished the half with 26 points.

NY was still without Miles McBride, but the bench got more playing time, with Landry Shamet and Cameron Payne getting solid minutes.

Mikal Bridges could not get his 3 to go down, but was scoring on drives — he’d finish with 18 pts on 8-18 shooting (0-5 from 3). Josh Hart also had trouble with his shot — going 0-5 on the night (0-3 from 3) for 2 pts, although he had 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

Brunson was also aided by Karl-Anthony Towns, and buckets by OG Anunoby (12 pts).

3. Third Quarter of Doom

And then came the 3rd quarter of doom. Zach Lavine started to cook — hitting 3’s against the smaller Landry Shamet guarding him, and then Coby White started to cook, with Nicola Vukovich scoring inside.

It started slowly at first — the Knicks and Bulls both looking sluggish at start of the period, and the Bulls slowly eating into the NY lead. When Lonzo Ball — who has been back this year — came off the bench and hit a deuce and then a 3 at the 6:20 mark, Chicago tied the game at 80-80.

Chicago then went on a 12-1 run near the end of the quarter to take an 11-pt lead — with buckets by Vucevic, Lavine, Julian Phillips, and a 3 by Jalen Smith.

Jalen Brunson put the Knicks on his back to keep the Knicks in the game, countering Chicago scores throughout the rest of the quarter, but a Coby White 3-point with 2 seconds left put the Bulls up by 15, 104-89, entering the 4th.

4. Knicks Late Comeback in 4th Falls Short

Coby White hit another 3 to start the 4th and give Chicago an 18-pt lead. Jalen Smith hit another 3 and then Josh Giddey got into the action with rolling drives to the bucket. Chicago had a 114-95 lead with 10 minutes left.  It was an onslaught against the sleeping Knicks.

Landry Shamet came in off the bench and gave NY a spark with intensity on defense, and then Karl-Anthony Towns put the Knicks on his back — taking over from Brunson.

Towns attacked the basket with vigor, and started hitting 3’s. A drive and then a floater by Towns, a 3 by Cameron Payne, and a Towns inside drive pulled NY within 12 at 116-104.

A Towns drive, a Shamet drive, a Towns 3, and another Towns drive pulled NY to within 6 at 119-113 with 6:13 left.

And then, after a Vucevic score put Chicago up by 8, NY pulled to within 5 when Shamet hit a 3 from the corner — but Cameron Payne fell over Coby White on the play for an offensive foul so the 3 was waived off. Down the other end Lavine was fouled taking a 3, and hit all free throws for a 6-pt swing that put Chicago back up by 11. That was ballgame.

Some more Vucevic drives and a Coby White 3 put Chicago back up 17 with 3:30 left.

The Knicks and KAT continued to try their best furiously down the stretch to come back but it was to no avail.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401705048

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