Knicks Shut Down Hype After Historic Stretch

Forget a complete game. It's merely a numbers game for New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson.

The Knicks made a little history in their fourth consecutive win on Monday: with a 143-106 thrashing of the Memphis Grizzlies, which followed an equally dominant 143-120 win over Sacramento on Saturday, the Knicks became only the 10th team in NBA history to score at least 143 points in consecutive regulation games.

The 286 points they've tallied in the last two games is also the second-most in any two-game stretch in franchise history and the best since 1965.

Brunson only kept track of the literal implications in the aftermath in video from SNY.

"I'm never one to look forward & say the potential or whatever. It's how we can focus on getting better every single day regardless of what happens. We can't be satisfied. We can't think we're good after a couple of wins like this. Nothing's given in this league"

- Jalen Brunson pic.twitter.com/AMH5JxgTzx
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) January 28, 2025

"That we've scored 143 in two games straight," Brunson said when asked "I'm never one to look forward and say the potential or whatever. It's how we can focus on getting better every single day regardless of what happens.

"We can't be satisfied. We can't think we're good after a couple of wins like this. You have to continue to work, you have to continue to have the mindset Nothing's given in this league. So we've got to continue to have that mindset."

Despite some early scares, such as early foul trouble for Brunson, the Knicks (31-16) put forth their largest margin of victory this season and captured their fourth consecutive win while ending the NBA's longest-active winning streak at six.

New York also neutralized the NBA's highest-scoring offense by forcing 26 turnovers from the Grizzlies' hands, the most a Knicks opponent has lost since October 2019. Eight different Manhattanites had at least one steal with Precious Achiuwa and OG Anunoby uniting for 10 on their own. Mikal Bridges led the Knicks with 28 points and played shutdown defense on Ja Morant while finishing with the best plus/minus on the team at plus-41.

To top it all off, the Knicks are now a season-best 15 games over .500 and sit only a game out of second place on the Eastern Conference playoff bracket after Boston fell to Houston later on Monday night.

All that and more, wasn't enough to force the Knicks to surrender to temptation.

Tom Thibodeau on if tonight's game was a complete performance vs. Memphis:

"There's a long way to go. We know we can't feel too good about it, we know we have to get ready for Denver. The games keep coming. Enjoy this tonight. The focus never changes" pic.twitter.com/l02dTHjJ2g
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) January 28, 2025

Head coach Tom Thibodeau certainly isn't planning any parades, as he immediately turned the focus to the Knicks' Wednesday showing against the Denver Nuggets (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). New York has seven games before the All-Star break and all but two comes against teams currently stationed in their respective conference's top six.

"It's one game, and you want to keep building," Thibodeau said in video from SNY. "We had a test with Sacramento and [the Grizzlies] were the same thing, fast, a type of team [that's] strong on both sides of the ball ... It's good but there's a long way to go. We know we can't feel too good about it, we know we have to get ready for Denver. The games keep coming. Enjoy this tonight, but tomorrow start getting ready for Denver."

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