Jalen Brunson scored 20 points Wednesday night for the New York Knicks, who snapped out of their slump with a historic 120-66 thumping of the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
The 54-point win was the most lopsided in franchise history for the Knicks, easily surpassing a trio of 48-point wins, the most recent of which was a 130-82 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers on April 21, 1994. A 3-pointer by the Nets’ Danny Wolf with 8.5 seconds left prevented New York from earning the largest-margin victory in the NBA this season. The Charlotte Hornets blew out the Utah Jazz 150-95 on Jan. 10.
The 66 points for the Nets were the fewest by an NBA team since March 16, 2015, when the Charlotte Hornets lost to the Utah Jazz 94-66. It was the fewest points allowed by the Knicks since they beat the Washington Wizards 103-65 on April 13, 2012.
Landry Shamet scored 18 points off the bench while fellow reserve Miles McBride had 14 points for the Knicks. New York ended a four-game losing streak and won for just the third time in the last 12 games a day after Brunson reportedly called a players-only meeting to make it clear the team needed to find answers for its recent struggles.
Thunder 122, Bucks 102
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points, dished out 11 assists and grabbed seven rebounds, leading Oklahoma City to a dominant road victory over Milwaukee.
Ajay Mitchell and Kenrich Williams each added 18 points for the Thunder, who won their second straight in dominating fashion and have prevailed in 7 of 8.
Giannis Antetokounmpo compiled 19 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, but the Bucks lost back-to-back games at home by 20-plus points for the first time since 2016. Milwaukee fell for the fourth time in its past five overall.
Cavaliers 94, Hornets 87
Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points as Cleveland’s solid defense paved the way to beat the host Hornets.
Evan Mobley provided 14 points and 14 rebounds, Jaylon Tyson posted 14 points and Jarrett Allen had 13 points, as the Cavaliers won for the third time in their last four outings. Cleveland finished with a 60-47 rebounding advantage.
Brandon Miller’s 24 points led the Hornets and teammate Kon Knueppel notched 21 points but he was 2-for-10 from 3-point range. The Hornets produced their lowest home point total of the season, and finished the matchup eight for 47 beyond the arc.
Pistons 112, Pelicans 104
Jalen Duren collected 20 points and 15 rebounds and Daniss Jenkins added 17 points while starting in place of All-Star Cade Cunningham, lifting visiting Detroit past New Orleans.
Duren sank 7 of 11 shots from the floor to power the Pistons to their fourth win in a row and their seventh victory in eight contests. Duncan Robinson drained four 3-pointers to highlight his 15-point performance for Detroit, which played without both Cunningham (left hip contusion, illness) and Caris LeVert (illness).
New Orleans’ Saddiq Bey made all 11 of his free-throw attempts to finish with a team-high 20 points. Trey Murphy III and rookie Micah Peavy each scored 17 points for the Pelicans, who shot a dismal 21.9% from 3-point range (7 of 32). New Orleans star Zion Williamson scored four points in 15 minutes before exiting the contest due to an illness.
Raptors 122, Kings 109
A trio of Toronto players scored more than 20 points, and Scottie Barnes and Jamal Shead combined for 24 in a third-quarter uprising as the visiting Raptors used a balanced attack to complete a two-day Northern California sweep with a triumph over Sacramento.
Barnes and Brandon Ingram scored 23 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili added 22, Immanuel Quickley chipped in with 18 and Shead had 15 for the Raptors, who had used a torrid first half to run off from the Golden State Warriors en route to a 145-127 victory in San Francisco on Tuesday night.
Giving Domantas Sabonis the night off on the back-to-back, the Kings got a team-high 23 points from Russell Westbrook, 19 from Zach LaVine, 17 from Malik Monk, 16 from Dennis Schroder and 11 from Precious Achiuwa.
Celtics 119, Pacers 104
Jaylen Brown had 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to lead Boston to a victory over visiting Indiana.
Brown was 11 of 22 from the field, but also committed a game-high five turnovers. Sam Hauser connected on 5 of his 7 3-point attempts and added 17 points for the Celtics, who received 17 points and nine rebounds from Neemias Queta.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 32 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Siakam has scored at least 20 points in five straight games and in 12 of his last 13 contests. Indiana has lost three in a row and four of five, falling to 2-19 in road games.
Hawks 124, Grizzlies 122
Jalen Johnson had 32 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists to lead visiting Atlanta past Memphis to snap a four-game losing streak as the Grizzlies picked the worst time to go cold from the line.
Ja Morant led Memphis with 23 points, 12 assists and a career-high three blocks, but missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Grizzlies made 24 of 27 free throws, but all their misses came in the game’s final 30.7 seconds — particularly painful considering the Hawks did not score a point in that span.
Onyeka Okongwu added 18 points, nine rebounds and two blocks for the Hawks and former Grizzlies guard Luke Kennard also contributed 18 points, including making four of his five 3-point attempts.
–Field Level Media
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