NEW ORLEANS — When the game is in the balance, the Knicks seem to find a way.
It’s now a part of their identity — forged on the back of the Clutch Player of the Year, Jalen Brunson — and they pulled it off again Monday in a sloppy victory over the Pelicans, 130-125, but a victory nonetheless.
Brunson and Miles McBride carried the Knicks down the stretch, combining for 11 of the team’s final 13 points in the final 2 ½ minutes. Brunson connected on two shots in the final 1:06 and McBride closed the game from the foul line.
The struggling Pelicans (8-26) still had a chance to tie in the final seconds while trailing by three, but Jordan Poole tried to draw a foul and jacked up a horrendous trey that barely touched the top of the backboard.
No rim.
It spoiled an exquisite night from Zion Williamson, who had 32 points in 29 minutes. But it’s tough to win a close game against the Knicks (23-9), who own a confidence, calmness and belief in the pressurized moments.
Brunson finished with a team-high 28 points and 10 assists. OG Anunoby added 23 points.
There was a moment of controversy with 4:08 remaining, when Karl-Anthony Towns and Yves Missi battled for a rebound and the ball bounced over the baseline. The refs ruled it out on the Pelicans, but a long delay in play — for reasons unknown — allowed the Pelicans enough time to see the replay on the Jumbotron and challenge.
Knicks players and coaches were furious about the stall, but it didn’t matter. The call was overturned on the challenge, Towns was assessed a foul and Pelicans were given the ball with 4:05 remaining and a tie game.
On the next possession, New Orleans’ Trey Murphy III hit a 3-pointer. But it didn’t matter. The Knicks still came up big when it mattered most, despite an effort littered with sloppiness.
Defense was a problem all evening for the Knicks, who allowed 75 points in the opening half. Saddiq Bey dropped 26 by the break. Williamson jump-started his aggressiveness in the second quarter, attacking the paint and forcing Karl-Anthony Towns into foul trouble. Williamson had 18 points and five rebounds in the first half.
Mohamed Diawara started again at forward, serving as the replacement for injured Josh Hart. The rookie arrived at Smoothie King Center on fire, dropping 13 points in the first quarter — including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc (he finished a career-high 18 points).
It was an eye-opening stretch from a player whose previous career high was five points, with Brown explaining pregame why he’s bullish on Diawara’s potential.
“In the summertime you started to see his feel. Just his feel for the game is uncanny for a guy who is 6-8 or 6-9 and for how young he is,” Brown said of the 20-year-old second-round pick. “And then everything you try to talk to about or teach him, he tries to observe and go do it. He works extremely hard. He’s long. He’s a pretty good defender. Getting better. Just a lot of little things that you kind of watch and go, ‘Oh my gosh, wow.’ And all those things when you add them up to a possible opportunity it gives you more confidence as a coaching staff to throw him out there and say, okay let’s see what’s going to happen.”
The Knicks were missing both Hart and Mitchell Robinson, who sat in his hometown due to load management and wasn’t in the arena. But they returned McBride, who sat the previous nine games with a sprained ankle and produced 14 points in 18 minutes Monday.
Brown also went deeper than usual into his bench, playing 12 guys in the first half, including the reinsertion of Guerschon Yabusele (nine points, two rebounds, 16 minutes) into the rotation. It continued Brown’s trend of spreading the opportunities, which was applauded Monday by Mikal Bridges as a tactic to boost morale and engagement from the bench.
“Yeah, for sure. Knowing that the work you put it, you might get your name called,” Bridges said “And also like it builds more as a team. And the thing is, we love each other and are competitive at the same time. But you know you want to be out there sometimes.
“The energy, the cheering on, there’s going to be thoughts of, ‘Damn, wish I was out there.’ Which, you know, could hold back your energy. Just a little bit. I’m not saying it’s going to be drastic. But knowing that you’re playing, now it gives even more energy because you feel like you contribute to whatever, knowing you might get called. So it’s just a different energy for the bench. Especially if we make runs. If we got nine guys that play, 10 guys that play, everybody is so juiced up because they played three minutes, they played four minutes.”
