Bulls 139, Knicks 126: “Coby White: 9 threes. NYK: 8 threes.”

After a long halftime ceremony, a tired Knicks squad was scorched by White and LaVine and surrendered the most points of the season.

Tonight’s game at the United Center, dubbed Derrick Rose Night, featured a special ceremony honoring the Chicago legend. In tribute to Rose, both the Bulls (16-19) and New York Knicks (24-12) wore unique D-Rose-inspired t-shirts during pre-game warmups. Soon, Derrick will be the fifth Bulls player to have his jersey retired, joining legendary Bulls Jerry Sloan, Bob Love, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen. During his second stint with the Knicks, D-Rose was a sparkplug and a mentor. Michael Zeno wrote a fine tribute to him here.

The Knicks suffered an exhausting loss last night in Oklahoma City but showed ample energy early on tonight, taking a 72-63 lead into halftime. The long tribute at intermission warmed the heart, but the Knicks cooled in the locker room and showed it, letting the Bulls complete a massive turnaround and win the third quarter by 24 points. In the fourth quarter, New York fell behind by 19 while they kept missing and the Chi-Boys kept making. KAT made a dent in the deficit before a knee injury sent him to the locker room. When the dust settled, the Knicks had surrendered the most points of the season, losing 139-126.

Through the first three quarters, Chicago coach Billy Donovan played 11 different guys. Tom Thibodeau fielded barely nine guys. Sure, his best shooter off the bench, Miles McBride, was unavailable due to a sore hamstring, but it’s disappointing that Jericho Sims, Tyler Kolek, and Matt Ryan are unplayable. As this game got late, Josh Hart looked wiped out (two points, 16 boards, 10 assists) and Mikal Bridges’ legs developed a certain jelly-like quality (he finished with 18 points and missed all five three-pointers). Jalen Brunson scored 33 points and dished eight dimes and must be on an I.V. drip while I right this.

Give Karl-Anthony Towns credit—he rode absolute fumes to a statline of 44 points, 10 boards, and five assists. He was leading a comeback until a knee injury down the stretch sent him to the locker room. Say a prayer it’s nothing serious, because the Knicks would be in serious trouble without him.

Quoth BingBongRuinedUs: “Coby White: 9 threes. NYK: 8 threes.” No kidding. White hit 9-of-11 from deep. New York made 8-of-30. Really turning it on in the second half, with the visitors looking punch drunk, White and Zach Lavine both finished with 33 points. Nikola Vučević packed on 22 points when the Knicks frontcourt lost its legs.

Before the trade deadline last season, Leon Rose & Co. reconized that the Knicks weren’t contenders with RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and Quinten Grimes as key rotational pieces. They must be experiencing the same concerns at present, recognizing that their bench needs serious support. A trade is coming, friends, or I’ll eat my hat.

First Half

Resuming where they left off last night, New York dished and swished from the jump. They protected the ball, too, committing just two first-quarter turnovers. After amassing a nine-point lead, they cooled a bit, and to rest Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, Coach Tom Thibodeau sent in Precious Achiuwa and Landry Shamet for the last four minutes of the frame.

Last night, Karl-Anthony Towns attempted no three-pointers and Jalen Brunson missed all five attempts from deep. In Q1, Jalen looked better, bagging a triple among his 12 points. Meanwhile, Coby White had 10 for the home team, and his buzzer-beater trimmed the Knicks lead 33-29.

In the second quarter, Mikal Bridges stepped forward for his turn to make some buckets. He collected 13-first half points on 6-of-12 shooting while the Knicks flirted with a lead in the four-to-seven points range. With balanced scoring, three Knicks logged double-digit points in the half, including 17 by Towns and 26 from Brunson. Yet our heroes couldn’t put any significant distance on the scoreboard, with their five-second-quarter turnovers aiding a 10-2 Chicago run. Zach LaVine added some highlights to his trade season mixtape with 20-first half points, and the Knicks allowed the Bulls to come within a point before closing out the half ahead, 72-63.

The visitors had won the glass by four boards and the points in the paint, 32-24. Of their 25 made field goals, 15 were assisted, and once again the Knicks had excellent ball movement—a flimsy Chicago defense didn’t hurt. Both teams shot their free-throws well, with the Bulls making 11-of-11 and the Knicks swishing 16 of a surprising 18 attempts.

During an extended halftime tribute, Joakim Noah spoke lovingly of D-Rose and the United Center showed a short film directed by the NBA’s youngest MVP before the man himself addressed the crowd. It was a tasteful affair and befitted the son of Chicago.

Second Half

During the prolonged intermission, the Knicks must have stiffened up because their laggardly play afterward allowed a 17-8 Chicago run to tie the game. The Knicks made 0-of-7 from deep in the quarter while the home team hit 7-of-8. By midway through the frame, the slow-footed Knickerbockers surrendered the lead on a Giddey-to-Ball alley-oop, and the Lavine & White show buried them. Disastrous is an understatement. Chicago won the frame 41-15 and carried a 104-89 advantage into the final twelve.

Coby White opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, and the home team lead quickly reached 19. Despite being gassed, Karl-Anthony Towns refused to quit and helped the Knicks come within six at the six-minute mark. Landry Shamet contributed meaningful minutes during that stretch, and hit a timely corner triple that was vacated due to Cameron Payne committing a foul on the play. The shot would have cut the deficit to five; a few moments later, it was ten again.

Without much frontcourt resistance from New York, Nikola Vučević began to dominate, White and LaVine rained triples, and Chicago went up by 14 with two minutes left.

KAT hurt his knee on a play and hobbled about until Thibs finally sent in Jericho Sims, with about two minutes left. With KAT gone, the Knicks’ surrender was complete. Hit the notes.

Notes

• Coby White’s previous best game against the Knicks came on November 12, 2019. He scored 27 points in 27 minutes, set a rookie record with seven fourth-quarter 3-pointers, and outscored the entire Knicks bench.
• Zach LaVine was teammates with Knicks center/forward Karl-Anthony Towns for two seasons (2015-17) in Minnesota.
• Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau was Chicago’s head coach for five seasons (2010-15).
• Bulls guard Lonzo Ball was teammates with Josh Hart from 2017-2019 while with the Lakers.
• New York assistant coach Maurice Cheeks coached with Chicago for four seasons (2020-24) before joining the Knicks.
• The Knicks came into tonight with a record of 9-1 following a loss.

Up Next

The Knicks will be home on Monday to play the Orlando Magic yet again. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.

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