Brunson Leads Knicks to Victory in Oklahoma City

Jalen Brunson led the New York Knicks to a 129-119 victory, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder and wrapping up a six-game western conference road trip.

The new point guard for the Knicks continues to prove that he is worth every penny of his $104 million contract. Brunson finished the game with 34 points, his regular season career-high, and 8 assists. He looked calm and composed the entire game. The floor general was unstoppable in the midrange game, with his first miss from two-point range coming with 2:45 left in the fourth quarter.

In addition to Brunson, New York’s two other stars RJ Barrett and Julius Randle had notable games as well. 

Barrett broke out of his poor shooting slump, scoring 25 points on 10-16 from the field and 3-4 from three. He had been dealing with an illness most of the road trip, but it seems like he has finally recovered. Barrett is shooting about 25% from beyond the arc so far this season, but this game is hopefully a sign he can turn things around.

Randle added 25 points of his own, in addition to 11 rebounds. Combined the Knicks’ big three scored 84 points. When Brunson, Barrett, and Randle are all playing well, New York is very hard to stop.

As for the bench unit, the only main contributor was Immanuel Quickley. The third-year guard finished with 18 points and 4 assists while shooting 6-8 from the field and 4-5 from three. Quickley is seemingly starting to find his footing and provides a much-needed scoring spark off the bench.

The Knicks’ offense got off to a hot start and never let up during the contest. By halftime, New York had an 11-point lead, which they never relinquished during the rest of the game. 

As a team, the Knicks shot 53% from the field, made 11 threes, and shot 80% from the charity stripe. New York also dominated the glass, outrebounding the Thunder 48 to 38. Furthermore, they also outscored Oklahoma City in the paint, 72-60. Overall it was a dominant offensive performance by the Knickerbockers.

On the other side, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 30 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. Gilgeous-Alexander is going to get his points, he averages 31.1 points per game, the fourth most in the league. However, the Knicks held him to 9-22 shooting from the field. While Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30 points, New York made sure he had a difficult time getting there.

Gilgeous-Alexander was helped out by Luguentz Dort, 24 points and 8 rebounds, and Josh Giddey, 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. 

Throughout the course of the game, the Thunder were only able to amass a 2-point lead. They were never able to gain control of the game and ultimately were unable to come back against the red-hot Knicks.

This Knicks win ended a six-game western conference road trip, where New York went 3-3. With RJ Barrett seemingly fully healthy, Randle playing well, and Brunson dominating, the Knicks are going to look to turn this win into a streak. The Knicks will take on the Trail Blazers Friday at home in Madison Square Garden.