Deja Bull: Knicks Done In By DeRozan Winner
What are the holidays without a little bit of drama at home?
DeMar DeRozan sank a game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining in Friday's visit to Madison Square Garden, allowing his Chicago Bulls to escape from New York with a 118-117 decision from the New York Knicks. It's Chicago's second consecutive victory via buzzer-beater after Ayo Dosunmu previously provided the winning couple in a Wednesday win over Atlanta.
Chicago (14-18) also avoided its first sweep at the hands of the Knicks since the 2016-17 season and earned its first three-game winning streak of the year. New York (18-15) still took home the season series 2-1, winning on the Bulls' floor at United Center in a doubleheader last week.
Wasted in the performance on the losing end was a season-best 44-point showing for RJ Barrett, who became the first New Yorker to scale the 40-point plateau this season. Coming two points short of tying the career-best he set last season, Barrett was a brilliant 14-of-20 from the field, including a perfect 6-of-6 in three-point attempts. His first 26 allowed the Knicks to stick around with the Bulls after the latter jumped out to a 29-22 lead after the first 12 minutes. That was Barrett's first half tally, which included eight points on a 14-7 run over the last 2:31 to give the hosts a 60-58 lead at halftime.
His second half haul brought perhaps the loudest MSG cheer to date this season, earning an and-one opportunity on an electrifying slam dunk over Nikola Vucevic.
Barrett, fresh off a 30-point showing in the Knicks' previous contest against Toronto on Wednesday, united with Julius Randle to put on a showcase from the outside, the latter earning his 29 points on a 5-of-10 mark from deep. New York hit 16 overall on a night where both sides were shooting over 50 percent through three quarters.
Ironically enough ... albeit in the most macabre fashion for the Knicks ... a loss on a successful night from downtown was bestowed upon the free throw line. Freebie futility did the Knicks in on a night where neither team led by double-digits at any point. Barrett mostly handled his business by going 10-of-13 but his teammates failed to pick up the pace, hitting 5-of-13 to account for the other half.
There was no escaping those struggles in the final portions of the game when several sealing opportunities went by the wayside: granted seven opportunities at the foul line over the final three minutes, the Knicks hit only two and none in four tries over the final 1:06. Randle's successful and-one opportunity put the Knicks up 115-112 with 1:45 remaining but Quentin Grimes forebodingly missed two when he was the victim of a loose ball foul 39 seconds later. Zach LaVine, scorer of a Chicago-best 33 points, traded baskets with Barrett, but the Knicks seemed to have things under control with Jalen Brunson going to the line with just over six seconds left.
But Brunson, an 89 percent foul shooter entering Friday's action, missed both of his chances at sealer, leading to DeRozan's heroics. The basket doomed the Knicks to their first case of consecutive losses since Nov. 30-Dec. 3. DeRozan was, in fact, fouled by Grimes on the winner, but intentionally missed his opportunity in an attempt to run out the already-minuscule clock. The Knicks argued that they should've been afforded advancement to midcourt because the shot didn't hit the rim but officials declared otherwise.
New York also fell back below .500 at home, once again uncannily standing as the only team in the NBA pairing a losing record at home (8-9) with a winning record elsewhere.
The Knicks will extend a holiday record with their 55th Christmas Day contest on Sunday. Their matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers (12 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC) is the most common of Christmas, as Sunday will mark the 13th meeting on Dec. 25 and the first since 2017.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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