Jalen Brunson Clutch Once More as Knicks Douse Heat in OT

The New York Knicks earned a Hollywood ending on Oscar night.

Jalen Brunson perhaps earned the title of Best Director for guiding the Knicks to their largest comeback of the season in a 116-112 overtime victory over the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center. With the win, their third in a row, the Knicks (40-20) have earned their 40th triumph of the season at their earliest point since the 1996-97 campaign. New York is also perfect in five overtime games so far this season.

More clutch antics from Brunson led the way back from 19 points down, as the point guard and captain scored 31 points, all but five coming in the latter 24 minutes and the five-minute extra session. Between points and assists, Brunson played a role in 19 of the final 26 Knick points, including the overtime triple that gave New York a permanent lead.

Elsewhere in the New York box score, Karl-Anthony Towns posted a 19-point, 16-rebound double-double while Miles McBride had another double-figure scoring night off the bench with 12 tallies.

After keeping things close early on against a South Beach group trying to win its third in a row, the Knicks set the stage for dramatic by letting up a 20-6 run over the final six minutes of the first half.

While able to hold Tyler Herro in check, the Knicks were eaten alive through 40 points in the paint, an effort headlined by Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware. The aforementioned larges deficit of the game came in a speedy stretch from former Knicks shooter Alec Burks, who scored all nine of points in a two-plus minute stretch that kept his former employers at bay in the third.

From there, however, the Knicks put forth foreshadowing with a 16-2 run that held through the end of the third before Herro hit one of his two triples of the night before the period let out. Four different Knicks, including Brunson, hit threes in that span as they lowered the fourth quarter gap to six.

Miami got the lead back up to double figures and such an advantage was still on the scoreboard past the midway mark of regulation's finale. A run of nine consecutive Brunson-based points (seven tallies and an assist) closed the gap to one before McBride gave the Knicks the lead with a driving double.

The All-Star Herro put in five straight of his own to give Miami a two-possession lead back in the final minute before Anunoby's dunk of a Brunson misfire re-opened hope. Brunson himself tied the game with just over 26 seconds remaining, setting up the extra session. Brunson passed on the opportunity to put in another game-winner, instead dishing it off to Mikal Bridges in the corner, but the subsequent miss set the table for further clutch heroics.

Wasted in Miami's defeat was a brilliant shooting night from Adebayo, who scored 30 on 12-of-16 from the field. Outside experts Herro and Duncan Robinson were a combined 4-of-17 from the field, necessitating an interior showcase from Adebayo and Ware, the latter of whom picked up six blocks.

The Heat (28-31) will be in Manhattan on March 17 for a holiday showdown on St. Patrick's Day. In the meantime, the Knicks briefly return home to face the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night, their last Madison Square Garden showing before embarking on a two-week road trip (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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