Brunson Clutch In Win Over Philly
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Shara Talia Taylor
It was a 110-105 win for the New York Knicks Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, but it wasn’t ideal.
New York could have lost the game or went to overtime when they were tied with Philadelphia at 102 with less than two minutes to play in the game. New York’s early lead diminished as Philadelphia made a comeback after halftime, but 34 points from Jalen Brunson and 28 from Mikal Bridges helped save the team.
“Turnovers, them making threes and keep cutting the lead down,” Brunson said about what happened in the second half. “We just weren’t as focused, we were pretty careless with the ball but that’s all good.”
New York had 16 turnovers in the game and Philadelphia had 13. The Knicks led 33-21 at the end of the first quarter and 28-24 at half time, but were out-scored 29-22 in the third quarter and 31-27 in the fourth quarter.
“Built a big lead, then they hit some shots on us, closed the gap,” said Coach Tom Thibodeau about the game. “The start of the fourth, they had Maxey and George in so they closed the gap there.”
Maxey, who was listed as the 5th leading scorer in the NBA this season, led the 76ers in scoring with 30 points.
“The thing is he’s a tough match up and it’s hard to guard those guys individually, so what you’re trying to do is try to make him work for his points,” Coach Thibodeau said about Maxey. “I thought Mikal (Bridges) he did a great job of really working to make it as hard as he could on him.”
Bridges added 28 points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals. Brunson contributed 14 points in the fourth quarter alone that helped the Knicks, but Bridges started the game strong. He led New York with 19 points in the first quarter alone. He joined OG Anunoby, Ariel Hukporti, Jalen Brunson, and Josh Hart in the starting line-up. Hart led New York with 17 rebounds and added seven points.
“Just playing hard, that’s pretty much it,” Bridges said about what allowed him to be successful scoring in the first quarter.
Bridges said they will have to start strong in order to win games. This will be important in addition to avoiding turnovers as they approach the end of the regular season and playoffs.
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