KABOOM. The Knicks ended their 4-game losing streak (and 9 losses in last 11) by BLASTING Brooklyn from start to finish — 120-66 — on a Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
NY led by 59 points — 120-61 — with less than a minute left, when Brooklyn scored the last 5 points to make it closer.
The win followed days of finger pointing by fans and media at coach Mike Brown and the Knick personal, as the Knicks had been pummeled by an undermanned Dallas team at MSG in their prior game, their 4th loss in a row and 9th in last 11 since winning the In-Season Tournament.
Everyone on the Knicks “did their job” — words that coach Mike Brown used after the prior game. NY was focused on Defense and squealing sneakers, which led to rhythm 3’s all night. NY shot 16-32 from 3 for 50% on the evening, with Landry Shamet coming off the bench and going 6-6 from 3 (for 18 pts), and Miles McBride going 3-4 from 3 after his 1-8 performance against Dallas.
NY led by 18 pts after 1 quarter, by 22 at the half, and by 32 after 3 quarters. The starters rested in the 4th, which meant individual point totals weren’t great: Jalen Brunson led NY with 20 pts, Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 pts (on 5-8 shooting), Mikal Bridges had 11 pts (on 5-9 shooting), Josh Hart had 11 pts (on 5-5 shooting), and OG Anunoby had 5 pts (on 2-4 shooting). But all the starters had +/- numbers between +18 and +28. Mitchell Robinson beasted again off the bench with 7 pts, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 17 minutes with a +20.
“‘I’ve never been a part of a championship team that didn’t go through adversity during the regular season,” said coach Mike Brown — who was an assistant coach on several titles in Golden State — afterwards. “Every time we went through it, it paid dividends come playoff time.”
“To go see them put it together for 48 minutes was a lot of fun,” added Brown.
NY improves to 26-18; Brooklyn falls to 12-30.
1. Knicks Come Out with Vengeance
Brooklyn has been playing decent ball lately — after benching their starters like Cam Thomas and playing their young players like Drake Powell, Egor Demin, and Noah Clowney alongside Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton. Brooklyn had lost 7 of 8 coming in but there was a win over Denver before that, an OT loss to Orlando, a win over Chicago, and close losses in Dallas, Memphis, and New Orleans. So this game was no gimmie. In fact many Knick fans expected Brooklyn to give NY a hard time.
But the Knicks came out with FIRE and INTENSITY and raced out to a 22-11 lead. KAT was pounding the ball inside and hitting 3’s, and the Knick DEFENSE stifled the Nets — leading to fast break buckets by Hart, OG, Mikal, and Brunson.
Mitchell Robinson came in and started BEAST-ing on the boards and on defense, and scoring inside off feeds from Brunson.
And then Landry Shamet came in and started hitting every 3 he took and NY went up by 18 — 38-20 after 1 quarter.
B2B Landry Shamet threes 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/TbZaS9JcuE
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) January 22, 2026
2. Knicks Keep Pressure on in 2nd Quarter — Lead by 22 at Half
The 2nd quarter was more of that. The Nets young players seemed overwhelmed by the veteran, defending Eastern Conference Finalist, and In-Season Tourney Title champion Knicks.
Landry steal ➡️ OG slam pic.twitter.com/XFECLTwFXG
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) January 22, 2026
Mitchell Robinson was too big for Nic Claxton — Mitch DOMINATED inside on offense and defense.
Mitch goes to work on the glass 💪 pic.twitter.com/oXDxNzWeA3
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) January 22, 2026
The Knicks kept up the defense which fed the fast-break offense and rhythm 3’s.
3. Knicks Push the Lead in 3rd — Go Up by 32
And then came the 3rd quarter — when the Knicks pushed it even more — going up by 30-something points. There was no letup.
There was Josh Hart hitting a spot-up off an OG feed, KAT driving off an OG feed, OG slamming off a Josh Hart feed, Bridges driving off a KAT feed, Hart hitting a floater off a Bridges assist. Total team ball.
Mitchell Robinson again slammed off a Brunson assist and NY was up by 32 at 78-46 with 4:32 left in the quarter.
The Knick reserves came in late in the quarter, and the starters never returned — resting for the 4th in the blowout.
4. NY Reserves and Shamet Run Brooklyn Off Court in 4th
But the Knick reserves kept pushing it — McBride and especially Shamet put on a 3-pt shooting drill in the 4th.
SHAMET doin SHAMET things
he is 6/6 from the 3 point arch 🎯 pic.twitter.com/31J8dquSXj
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) January 22, 2026
Jordan Clarkson joined the fun with a bucket inside, Mohamed Diawara made 2 free throws off a drive and NY was up 106-61.
NY would then score the next 13 pts to go up by 59 pts at 120-61 with 1:09 left — a Tyler Kolek 3 and then a Tyler Kolek drive-and-1, a Diawara 3, an Ariel Hukporti dunk, a Clarkson free throw, and a Diawara offensive rebound and tip in.
But in the final 45 seconds Terrance Mann scored inside and Danny Wolf hit a 3 for the final 54-pt margin.
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