Despite the fact that the New York Knicks had lost their first three games against the Milwaukee Bucks this season, Jalen Brunson performed well on Christmas Day in an effort to snap the team’s losing skid at three games.
After finishing with 38 points, Brunson became the first Knicks player to score more than 60 points on Christmas Day since Bernard King did it in 1984. Brunson’s heroics helped New York defeat Milwaukee 129-122. The Bucks’ seven-game winning run was ended against the Knicks.
“We’ve struggled against this team throughout this year and the fact that we came out with a win today, it’s special,” Brunson said after the match. “It’s good that we maintained the advantage, even after they reduced it significantly. We maintained our composure and worked out a strategy to win.”
The opening quarter of Monday’s game saw the Knicks come out firing following their Saturday afternoon loss to the Bucks. They never trailed after scoring 36 points in the quarter, which was their greatest first-quarter total of the year.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, four Knicks—Brunson, Julius Randle (24), RJ Barrett (21) and Immanuel Quickley (20)—scored at least 20 points on Christmas Day, making history and joining the 2012 Rockets as the only other team to accomplish it in the previous 50 years.
“We had a lot of guys in double figures and a lot of assists,” Quickley said. “Playing with everyone touching and moving [the ball] made it enjoyable.” Our offense really benefited from our defense, in my opinion, therefore we must play that way every night.”
Even though Milwaukee’s Big 3 of Giannis Antetokounmpo (32), Damian Lillard (32), and Khris Middleton (24), combined for 88 points, New York emerged victorious.
“They came out and played like they had practiced and talked about it,” Lillard said. They performed more energetically and quickly, and I felt that they also put in a stronger team effort. Many men contributed to their victory. It was simply too late, even though we could have done a lot more and given ourselves a little window of opportunity.”
In the fourth quarter, the Bucks managed to trim the Knicks’ advantage to just four points, but Brunson’s effort proved to be too strong. According to ESPN Stats & Info, he scored or assisted on 51 points, generated 18 points off drives, and his teammates went 6-of-11 on his passes. Eleven of the fifteen field goals he scored were disputed.
Despite New York’s 1-3 record in those four games, Brunson has averaged 35.8 points per game versus Milwaukee this season.
“Had a little bit more energy today now and it showed … from start to finish,” Brunson said.
“A lot of times in our coverages, [Brunson has] been able to get to his spots, but we’ve been able to overall control the game regardless,” Lillard said. “But sometimes when a guy gets rolling and they get comfortable and they start feeling good, when it becomes a tight game, it can be a problem.”
Nevertheless, the Bucks were content to leave New York after splitting the weekend.
It resembled a playoff game, according to Antetokounmpo. “Over the last month and a half, we have played this squad four times. Twice in the last several days.We think it’s an excellent test. Being able to win the first game and lose the second is fantastic because we’ll be playing playoff teams twice [on the road]. We’ll get insight from it.
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