The New York Knicks are doing everything they can to tread water right now. The offense has been spectacular, the defense anything but, and it has led to a 6-6 record after Jalen Brunson hit a game-winner to beat the Brooklyn Nets 124-122 on Friday.
New York hasn’t made it easy for itself. After leading by 21 in the final seconds of the third quarter, the Knicks managed just four points in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. The drought allowed the Nets to come back, and the Knicks trailed by a point when they called a timeout with 11 seconds left.
That’s when Brunson did his thing: isolating against Dorian Finney-Smith in the left corner, clearing space with a through-swing and rising for the go-ahead 3-pointer.
That shot didn’t officially end the game, however, as the Nets, now down two, had six seconds left to work with. It looked like Dennis Schroder was on his way to tying the game when he raced back across the court and got behind Knicks forward and Brunson’s Villanova teammate Mikal Bridges with a clear path to the rim. But Bridges stayed in range and was able to block Schroder’s shot from behind to finish off Brooklyn. Here’s the final series in its entirety:
Brunson and Bridges each finished with season-high scores, Brunson with 37 and Bridges with 22. Bridges, who has shot the lights out from beyond the arc this season but hasn’t gotten his three-point stroke going yet (30% coming in Friday), made four of his seven 3-pointers, while Brunson finished 12 of 20 overall and 10 of 12 from the free throw line with 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Cam Thomas led the way for the Nets with a monstrous 43 points on 7-of-10 3-point shooting. Brooklyn isn’t a team anyone wants to play right now. They bring the fight every night and the Knicks were already behind the eight ball on Friday with Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been exceptionally good to start the season.