Thunder 117, Knicks 107: “Ehh, can’t win em all.”

OKC wins their 14th in a row and complete a massive fourth quarter rally in one of the season’s best games.

Pick your own lede for tonight’s tilt between the New York Knicks (24-11) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (29-5). Was it the clash of nine-straight wins against thirteen, the face-off between Eastern Conference Player of the Month Karl-Anthony Towns and Western Conference Player of the Month Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the first chance for Isaiah Hartenstein to face his former club, or the matchup of the third-best offense against the league’s top defense?

Whatever angle you choose, tonight’s contest between two of the league’s top teams delivered on the hype.

After an evenly-matched, high-scoring first quarter, the the Knicks surged in the second frame. With four players scoring in double digits and their wings playing great defense, the visitors were ahead 66-54 at halftime. Our heroes lost the third quarter by four points, and when their shooting went cold down the stretch, SGA and the unlikely hero Aaron Wiggins poured on the points, outscoring the visitors 37-19 in the fourth frame to win 117-107.

Quoth ace.24: “Eeh, can’t win em all. I’d like to see KAT be way more involved in late games.” Agreed. Karl-Anthony Towns logged his fourth 20+ rebound game of the season, finishing with 17 points, 22 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and hit 7-of-13 from the field. He attempted no three-pointers tonight, though, and the game was a tad too Jalen Brunson-heavy as the lead evaporated. The good news is, KAT and the gang will get another swing at the Thunder next Friday at MSG.

Brunson was dealing with calf-soreness tonight, and he indeed looked off at times. He shot 9-of-23 from the field and missed all five three-pointers on his way to 22 points and nine assists. Mikal Briges fared better, with 24 points in his 41 minutes. OG Anunoby added 20 points and Josh Hart, 19. No Knicks starter played less than 40 minutes and their bench contributed five points. The Thunder bench? 44 points.

OKC had six players with at least one steal. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander snaked his way to 33 points and shot 12-of-26. Jalen Williams finished with 20 points, two steals, and a block, and contributed big minutes in crunch time. Wiggins posted 19 points, hitting 4-of-6 from deep. And our-formerly-beloved Hartenstein logged 14 rebounds and four points.

Hope you got to watch it, folks. This was as good as NBA basketball gets.

First Half

The Paycom Center buzzed with playoff intensity. The defense wasn’t particularly stellar for either side, although the Knicks committed four turnovers in the first quarter, and the Thunder’s Cason Wallace snagged two steals. In an evenly matched affair, both teams sank seven of their first 11 shots and scored 10 of their first 15 points in the paint. Hartenstein delivered four assists amid excellent passing, and SGA suffered a bloodied lip from a rough play. Althought the Tornadoes don’t excel at three-point shooting, they hit four of their first eight attempts, outpacing the Knicks’ 3-of-10. Thanks to 14 points from SGA, OKC led by as much as five and closed the quarter ahead, 33-30.

Jalen Brunson, hampered by calf soreness, struggled after a drive, while Mikal Bridges dazzled with smooth moves.

In the second quarter, the Knicks went over three minutes without a bucket—but never fear. After that drought, they caught fire, passing with panache and packing on points to jump ahead by four. OG Anunoby swished two triples with the Thunder’s attention diverted to Towns, Brunson, and Bridges. The Thunder converted Knicks turnovers into easy baskets, but New York responded by running up the floor to capitalize on mismatches. Before they knew it, the visitors had amassed a 14-point lead, thanks to some absolutely stunning ball movement by the Knicks. They outscored OKC 36-21 in the frame and took a 66-54 lead into intermission.

New York had four players score double-digits points in the first half: Bridges, 19; Anunoby, 15; Hart, 12; and Brunson, 10. Towns wasn’t far behind with 13 rebounds and eight points already. The visitors had outshot the home team 59% to 48%, had won the glass (23-15), already had 14 assists, and had won the points in the paint 36-32.

For the Thunder, SGA had 16 points (only two in Q2) and Ajay Mitchell added eight off the bench.

Second Half

Three New York turnovers was an inauspicious start to the start, as was eight unanswered Thunder points. After a timeout, our heroes recovered and restored their lead. This time, it was the Thunder’s turn to go three minutes without a score.

The Knicks were humming along when, with four minutes remaining in the quarter, OG Anunoby dunked on a fast-break, got hung up on the rim, and fell unguarded on his left side in a terrific crash. He was slow to get up and favored the elbow that he injured last season. After a timeout, Anunoby returned to shoot an And-1 freebie, having been fouled on the play, and seemed okay. We breathed a collective sigh of relief.

In a hard-fought frame, the Knicks managed just 22 points to the Thunder’s 26, and were ahead 88-80 to start the fourth.

Landry Shamet, everybody!

OKC’s Jalen Williams scored four unanswered points to start the last quarter, and when Isaiah Hartenstein snagged an offensive rebound that Aaron Wiggins converted into a trey, New York clung to a two-point lead. With the visitors denting the rims with bricks, Isaiah Joe swished from deep to give OKC their first lead since the first half. Brunson and Bridges scored consecutively to regain the lead, but Jalen Williams was a demon on both ends for the Tornadoes. Each squad threw haymakers and the score was an even 97 with five minutes on the clock. Wiggins hit another go-ahead triple—he scored an improbable 15 of his 19 in the fourth quarter—and KAT answered with a contested hook-shot.

With Wiggins and Shai scoring and Hartenstein cleaning the glass, OKC edged ahead by seven with two-and-a-half minutes left, and the game was out of reach despite a few Brunson layups.

Give this kid the MVP trophy.

Notes

• The two teams have played a total of 141 regular season games, with the Thunder holding a slight edge of 74-68. The longest winning streak that the Knicks have over the Thunder (then the Seattle Supersonics) is 13 games, spanning from December 22, 1971 til January 8, 1975.
• This was the fourth game in NBA history with both teams coming in with win streaks of nine or more.
• Oklahoma City opened the regular season with the youngest roster in the league, an average age of 24 years and 148 days.
• In his eight first-half minutes, Landry Shamet was a defensive disruptor and a spicy passer. Love to see it.
• The Thunder is currently forcing a league-high 19.1 turnovers per game and makes 81.3% at the free-throw line, which ranks second in the NBA. Tonight the Knicks committed 12 turnovers, and OKC hit 17-of-21 from the line.

Up Next

The Knicks play the second of a back-to-back tomorrow in Chicago against the Bulls. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.

Box Score