Jalen Brunson had had enough.
Enough of an early three-game losing streak. Enough of the burgeoning questions about Mike Brown and his offense. Enough of the sudden bad vibes surrounding the Knicks.
Brunson is so often their stabilizing force. After the Knicks experienced their first setback during Brown’s tenure, Brunson leveled the playing field.
He scored 19 of the Knicks’ first 34 points and immediately set the tone.
He finished with MVP chants ringing out around MSG in the fourth quarter. And he finished with a game-high 31 points as the Knicks defeated the Bulls 128-116 on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden to start a seven-game homestand.
Sunday felt like a big moment in Brown’s early days with the Knicks.
Under Tom Thibodeau, they didn’t lose four in a row last year.
The last time they did that was February 2024. Brown was in danger of doing so within six games of taking over.
It was also an immediate rematch against a previously undefeated Bulls team that topped the Knicks just two days earlier in Chicago. The Knicks were supposed to be the powerhouse in the Eastern Conference, and the Bulls entered the year expected to resemble a team closer to the middle of the pack. On Sunday, the Knicks dusted themselves off the mat and struck back, looking more like the heavyweight they see themselves as.
Two scenes surrounding timeouts spoke to the urgency not normally felt in a Nov. 2 regular-season game.
Early in the first quarter, OG Anunoby turned the ball over, leading to a Bulls fast break. Brunson and Mikal Bridges came back, but were outnumbered 3-to-2. Bridges did enough to force Matas Buzelis into a missed layup, but Isaac Okoro was able to grab the rebound uncontested and put it in. Brown called a timeout, during which Bridges animatedly yelled at his teammates — especially Anunoby — to get back into transition. The Knicks then defeated the Bulls 24–14 to end the quarter.
After going into halftime up 68-60, a long rebound on a missed 3-pointer by Brunson on the Knicks’ first offensive possession of the third quarter set up a Bulls break and another easy layup for Okoro. Brown had just spoken to his team at halftime, but wasted no time calling a timeout 39 seconds into the second half. The Knicks promptly went on a 16-10 run and restored a double-digit lead before the Bulls called a timeout of their own.
Brunson’s supporting cast was well balanced. Anunoby added 21 points, and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 20. And more than a few of Brunson’s 3-pointers were clean, catch-and-shoot, spot-up looks — exactly Brown’s vision to get Brunson playing more of the ball with a team-wide emphasis on ball movement. Brunson surpassed 9,000 career points in the victory.
Jordan Clarkson made a difference for the first time since joining the Knicks in free agency. He scored 11 points in the second quarter, providing a spark as the Bulls gained some momentum. He finished with 15. Josh Hart shook off his woeful start to the year and scored 14 points. Overall, the Knicks bench outscored the Bulls’ reserves 46-30.
The Knicks had struggled with Brown’s key pillars during the skid. They were clearly visible on Sunday.
Pace? The Knicks had a 24-19 advantage in fast-break points. Ball movement? The Knicks had 31 assists, three more than the Bulls. Three-point shooting? The Knicks shot 47.6 percent from deep.
For at least one night, the alarm bells were silenced.
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