Gotta Have Hart. And Brunson & McBride et al. NY 118 Milwaukee 109

November 29, 2025 LouV 2025-26 0

Jalen Brunson scored 37 pts on 12-21 shooting (4-6 from 3), Miles McBride hit big 3’s all night (19 pts, 5-7 from 3), and Josh Hart was everywhere — ardently defending Giannis Antetokounmpo and ripping down 15 rebounds to carry NY to a 118-109 victory over Milwaukee on a Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Greek Freak had 30 pts on 10-14 shooting but would have had 40+ if not for Hart, who shut him out of the lane in the late minutes of the game.

The score was close at 110-107 NY with 2:10 left when the Knicks pulled away — Karl-Anthony Towns intercepting a Greek Freak win of a jump ball against Hart, and then Jalen Brunson hitting a clutch drive-and-1 down the other end.

NY owned Milwaukee on the boards all night — a 44-35 rebounding advantage — and outscored the Bucks 22-5 on 2nd-chance points. A big part of that was Hart, KAT (10 rebounds), and also Mitchell Robinson, who dominated inside especially late in the 2nd quarter when he went on a slam-dunk fest to bring the Knicks back from 10 down.

“Giannis is a tough cover for anybody, especially when you’re giving up 6, 7 inches or whatever Josh is giving up,” said coach Mike Brown afterwards. “(Josh) fought all night. He was actually our defensive player of the game. The two biggest plays of the game were KAT’s offensive rebound late in the game — it was going to be a 1-possession game if they get that — and more importantly he stole the jump ball; his awareness to be able to come up with that steal was huge.”

NY improves to 12-6; Milwaukee falls to 8-12, losers of 7 in a row (4 of them without Greek Freak). The game was an in-season tourney game — NY advances while Milwaukee is eliminated.

1. Close Game After 1 Despite Bucks 9-13 from 3

The game was broadcast on Amazon — with Stan Van Gundy the analyst. He didn’t have an anti-NY bias as he is known for — he called a pretty straight and good game.

Milwaukee came out firing, and hitting — going 9-13 from 3 in the 1st quarter — with Myles Turner, AJ Green, Ryan Rollins, Bobby Portis all making one or more.

Milwaukee jumped out to a 10-pt lead at 32-22, but the Knicks came back led by Jalen Brunson with free throws after a drive, a step-back jumper, and a 3. It was 37-33 Milwaukee after 1.

2. Bucks Go on 11-0 Run to Take 10-Pt Lead in 2nd

Tyler Kolek played another great game for NY — attacking, orchestrating, making great passes, hitting his shot, and playing a pretty decent frenetic defense.

A Kolek drive off a Josh Hart assist, and then a Josh Hart drive-and-1 off a Kolek assist next time down gave NY a 40-39 lead.

But Milwaukee went on an 11-0 run to take a 50-40 lead — Gary Trent Jr with a 3, Giannis with a drive, Garry Harris with a 3, and Giannis with a drive-and-1.

Another Giannis drive-and-1 a minute later put the Bucks up by 12 at 55-43.

3. Mitch Robinson Goes on Slam Dunk Run

But then Mitchell Robinson went to work — a dunk inside off a Brunson assist, a layup-and-1 inside off a Jordan Clarkson assist (Robinson missed the free throw), and then after a Clarkson bucket, Mitch had another dunk-and-1 inside off an offensive rebound (again Mitch missed the free throw).

Milwaukee 55 NY 51 — the Knicks were back in it.

A Brunson 3 made it closer, 2 free throws by Clarkson made it a 1-pt game, a Mikal Bridges 3 tied the game at 69-all, and a Bridges jumper gave NY a 61-59 lead.

But Kyle Kuzma started heating up — hitting a 3 with a second left to give Milwaukee back a 1-pt lead at the half.

4. Knicks Take 4-Pt Lead After 3

The game went back and forth at start of the 3rd, with Brunson doing much of the Knick scoring, putting defenders on skates with his footwork. Mikal Bridges, who was having a quiet night, started adding to the scoring and NY started to pull out to a small lead.

An AJ Green 3 and Cole Anthony drive put Milwaukee up a point — but Bridges and Brunson hit back-to-back 3’s and NY went into the 4th up 92-88.

KAT errantly fouled Cole Anthony on a 3 with 5 seconds left in the period — but Anthony only made 1 of 3 free throws, otherwise it would have been closer.

5. McBride, Kolek 3’s Put NY Up 13 Early in 4th

Tyler Kolek continued to play sparkling basketball at the start of the 4th, playing alongside Miles McBride.

McBride hit back-to-back 3’s, and then Kolek hit a 3 — for 9 straight NY points to start the 4th and a 101-88 Knick lead.

And Josh Hart continued to be the glue — grabbing rebound after rebound, passing, and scoring.

“Tweeted this below on Josh Hart in 2019:” noted NBA Analyst Ross Kreines. “Josh plays with a purpose, plays his role, plays to his strengths and needs no plays called for him. He beats you on both backboards by outworking you, turns 50/50 balls into 20/80 balls, finds the open man and plays for the name on the front.”

In the tweet — from 2019 way before Hart was a Knick — Kreines said “Josh Hart impacting the game on both ends of the floor and stuffing the stat sheet . He always brings his hard hat and makes the extra effort plays that usually decide games.”

6. Bucks Pull within 3 Pts with 2 Minutes Left

But the Bucks came back on Kyle Kuzma 3-pt shooting and Greek Freak drives. A Greek dunk with 5:19 left pulled the Bucks within 104-102.

Brunson made 3 free throws after being fouled by Greek Freak taking a 3, Kuzma answered with a 3, McBride answered with a 3, and Greek Freak scored on a drive to make it 110-107 NY with 2:10 left.

A gunfight.

7. Hart & Brunson Take it Down Stretch

Then came a key offensive rebound by KAT — Josh Hart missed a layup with 2:10 left but KAT got the offensive rebound and was fouled by Myles Turner.

KAT hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 111-107.

Then the 2nd key play of the game — Myles Turner missed a 3, and Josh Hart and Giannis tussled for the rebound — causing a jump ball.

Giannis (6’11 to Hart’s 6’5) won the tip easily but the refs called it a bad jump. So they did it again.

Giannis won the tip easily again but this time KAT — seeing where he would toss it to on the prior jump — intercepted the tip. NY came down and Brunson hit a Clutch drive-and-1 for a 114-107 Knick lead with 1:27 left.

NY held the lead down the stretch — Josh Hart grabbing rebound after rebound on both sides of the court — he was fouled by Greek Freak after grabbing a defensive rebound with 19 seconds left, and made both free throws for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401809816

 

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