Aw, Buck! Knicks, Brunson's 44 Buried By Milwaukee Threes
Jalen Brunson was able to continue a personal streak at Madison Square Garden. The New York Knicks, on the other hand, were not.
For the second consecutive home game, Brunson earned a career-best in scoring, putting up 44 on Monday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. Despite assistance to the tune of 23 points from Immanuel Quickley, that wasn't enough for the Knicks to steal an upset win from the visitors, who erased a New York lead that reached as high as 17 and earned a 111-107 victory.
The loss ended the Knicks' four-game winning streak and pushed them back below .500 at MSG this season. New York continues to hold one of the most uncanny distinctions in the NBA this season, standing as the only team with a losing record at home (10-11) and a positive mark elsewhere (12-8).
A diverse scoring effort was paced by Giannis Antetokounmpo's 22 as all but two of the Bucks' nine participants reached double figures. The Milwaukee comeback was perpetrated from the outside, as a majority of Joe Ingles' 17 off the bench came from five triples. Pat Connaughton, Jrue Holiday, and Brook Lopez sank three each.
Brunson's early scoring prowess, scoring all but four of the Knicks' 22 points in the first quarter, kept the Manhattanites in the game during the early going. The struggles beyond Brunson were best defined by Julius Randle, who went 1-for-12 over the first 12 minutes and missed each of his first nine attempts from deep before finally sinking one on the first possession of the third period. New York's shooting struggles were not limited to Randle: beyond a combined 24-of-44 effort from the field for Brunson and Quickley, the Knicks sank only 14-of-56. That included a brutal 4-of-26 output from three-point range in the first half.
New York nonetheless managed to earn a five-point lead at halftime (partly enforced by 13 points in the second frame for Quickley) and, once Randle found a groove, expanded upon it to the aforementioned doomed 17-point tally. Milwaukee, however, planted the seeds of a comeback with a 13-2 run to close out the third, getting the lead back to five.
Obi Toppin, returning to the MSG floor for the first time since Dec. 7, got the crowd back into it with a three of his own to open the fourth (accounting for a third on the Knicks' bench scoring), but the Bucks countered with three in a row to turn the fourth into a shootout ... one the Knicks failed to survive despite 18 from Brunson.
Brunson's offensive showcase allowed the Knicks to linger, but a Holiday triple with just over 47 seconds remaining made it a two-possession game, allowing the veteran to play hero after some early foul trouble. Despite the loss, Brunson set his second career-best in scoring in five days, previously putting in 38 against San Antonio last Wednesday.
The Knicks (22-19) endured their fourth sweep at the hands of the Bucks over the past nine seasons. Another challenge awaits on Wednesday night when they welcome the Indiana Pacers to Manhattan (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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