It almost happened.
The Knicks came precariously close to losing to a bad team they should have beaten easily, precariously close to ruining their perfect mark against teams with losing records.
Jalen Brunson, however, refused to let it happen.
The point guard again bailed out his team with a big-time performance, scoring 20 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter to carry the Knicks to a 113-109 win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
Brunson scored 11 straight Knicks points in a span of 3:26 as they outscored the Wizards 40-37 in the final quarter. He also had eight rebounds and eight assists in 40:21 despite playing the second game of a back-to-back after missing two games with a calf injury.
“They were just never going to quit,” said Brunson, who scored 30 points in a win over Houston on Wednesday night.
“We just found a way to win. I just found a way to get to the basket.”
Knicks fans responded with “MVP’’ chants in Brunson’s honor throughout the fourth quarter. That may be a stretch, but he is making a strong bid to play in his first All-Star Game next month in Indianapolis.
“He’s an All-Star. Just make sure he’s in Indiana or we’re going to riot a little bit,” said Isaiah Hartenstein, who had 17 rebounds. “We might have to all pull up to Indiana.”
The Knicks built an 84-75 lead on Precious Achiuwa’s dunk, but a pair of three-pointers by Landry Shamet quickly brought Washington within 84-83. That’s when Brunson began his run of 11 straight Knicks points.
Julius Randle’s putback gave the Knicks a 104-95 lead with 1:51 left, but Shamet’s 30-foot three-pointer with 5.2 seconds to play made it a two-point game. DiVincenzo sank two free throws with 3.7 seconds remaining to clinch it.
The Knicks (25-17) are 18-0 against losing teams and 8-2 since trading for OG Anunoby.
Randle scored 10 points in the first quarter and finished with 21. DiVincenzo, who hit five three-pointers, and Anunoby added 19 each,…
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