NEW YORK – A well-rested New York Knicks team crushed the travel-weary Sacramento Kings, 143-120, Saturday night (Sunday Manila time) at the Madison Square Garden for their third straight win.
Coming off a nine-point loss in the Mile High City against the Denver Nuggets two nights ago, the Kings could not match the energy of the Knicks, who had a three-day break, from the start.
Landry Shamet came off the bench to fire three 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Knicks opened a 38-25 lead. OG Anunoby extended it to 19 on a 3-pointer with 5:29 left in the second quarter. He had 20 of his game-high 33 points in the first half.
“OG had a monster game for us — great defense, running the floor and shooting the ball,” New York coach Tom Thibodeau said of his forward.
The Kings made it close in the first half after waking up from their deep slumber in the second quarter. They closed the gap 69-67 after a wild 23-4 run behind Malik Monk’s 18 second-quarter points.
A Josh Hart three-point play preserved the Knicks lead at the half.
The Kings came within a basket again, 90-88, in the third quarter on Domantas Sabonis’ layup. The Knicks quickly answered with a 12-4 run behind Jalen Brunson, who had 25 points and 11 assists, and Anunoby.
Mikal Bridges, who finished with 27 points and seven assists, ended the third quarter with a running layup at the buzzer for a 111-100 Knicks lead.
They were never seriously threatened in the fourth quarter as they led by as many as 24 points. Not even a 10-minute stoppage to check if the rim at the Knicks basket was at the correct height could stop their momentum.
“Thibs gave us a couple of days off,” Hart revealed to MSG Network’s Alan Hahn after the win. “So, we had energy. The minute police can relax for a little bit. We just had a lot of energy to start the game and we just carried that throughout.”
Bridges, Hart and Anunoby are the top three players in the NBA in most minutes played this season, with Brunson at fifth.
Karl-Anthony Towns should have also been there had he not missed six games due to injuries.
All Knicks starters had double-digit scoring games, as usual.
Saved for Towns, who is playing with a bone chip in his right thumb, all Knicks starters logged more than 34 minutes.
Towns had 18 points and 15 rebounds but he’s bothered by his thumb injury. He only shot 8-of-17 from the floor and just attempted one three-pointer, which he missed.
Towns is now 1-of-10 from the three-point line since he returned from a two-game absence due to his thumb injury.
With Towns groping for his shooting form, Anunoby picked up the slack.
Anunoby shot 12-of-18 from the floor for his most points since his 40-point career game in Denver in November.
“I definitely try to be more aggressive,” Anunoby told MSG Network’s Bill Pidto. “There was a spell where I wasn’t getting touches, wasn’t getting shots. And I’m trying to be more aggressive, trying to assert myself more in the game. It’s hard. We’re a great team, so it’s hard to figure out. But we’re getting better and better.”
It wasn’t only Anunoby, who asserted himself.
Hart, a game-time decision with knee soreness, shrugged off the pain to notch his sixth triple-double of the season.
The 6-foot-4 Knicks wing was all over the floor, stuffing the stats sheet with 20 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, one steal and two blocks.
Thibodeau pointed out it was not only Hart’s rebounds that made him an impactful player.
“It’s whatever the game needed,” Thibodeau said. “The hustle, the heart, the toughness. And then getting into the gaps and then making plays. So, he’s a terrific playmaker, particularly when you’re trying to get the ball out of Jalen’s hands.
“He reads the floor well. He reads the game. He doesn’t fight the game. So, if someone’s open, they get the ball. It’s really simple. When you play like that, good things come from it.”
The Knicks have a good thing going after rolling to their sixth win over their last 10 games. They have a firm grip on the third seed in the Eastern Conference as they became the sixth team in the NBA to get to 30 wins.
The 30-16 Knicks are just two games behind the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics (32-14).
The Kings, on the other hand, have opened their six-game road trip with two straight losses.
Fox, who was questionable to play with a hand injury, was ineffective. He finished with only 14 points on 6-of-20 shooting.
Monk led the Kings with 31 points and nine assists while Sabonis added 25 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.
“They beat us in our own game,” said Sacramento interim coach Doug Christie, who is now 10-4 since taking over from Mike Brown.
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Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for US-based publication Heavy.com.