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Jalen Brunson drives with the ball during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 21 win against the Heat. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a simple formula, a winning formula:<\/p>\n
When in need of victory, turn to Jalen Brunson.<\/p>\n
The point guard did it again Sunday night, dropping a season-high 47 points \u2014 the most he\u2019s ever scored at MSG \u2014 as the Knicks toppled the pesky Heat, 132-125.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a special player. I think we know that,\u201d Karl-Anthony Towns said. \u201cAnd he doesn\u2019t surprise you when he has nights like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, there\u2019s almost a numbing effect to Brunson\u2019s greatness. It\u2019s been witnessed so many times since he became the greatest free agent signing in franchise history, and it was special Sunday night from the opening tip.<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson drives with the ball during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 21 win against the Heat. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n
Brunson carried the Knicks in the first half \u2014 dropping 27 points through two quarters \u2014 as both Towns and OG Anunoby were scoreless at the break. Then Brunson iced the win at the foul line in the final minutes amid \u201cMVP\u201d chants from the Garden crowd.<\/p>\n
He finished with eight assists and zero turnovers, shooting 15-for-25 from the field and 11-for-11 from the foul line.<\/p>\n
A virtuoso performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cJalen again,\u201d coach Mike Brown said. \u201cWe were struggling a little bit offensively, you want to have an MVP of the league on your side. For him to score 47. \u2026 He\u2019s capable of doing it and that\u2019s what MVPs are supposed to do on nights like tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only problem \u2014 if you could call it that \u2014 is that Brown failed again to keep Brunson\u2019s minutes under his allotted number, a goal the coach prioritized after playing his star more often during the NBA Cup.<\/p>\n
But Brunson is so important, so dominant this season, it\u2019s hard to keep him on the bench.<\/p>\n
Brunson played more than the coach hoped \u2014 38 minutes, four more than the ideal max \u2014 and Brown was rewarded by eight points from the point guard in the final five minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou try to sit \u2019em as long as you can,\u201d Brown said. \u201cBut if you feel the game slipping, it\u2019s my job to help us win in the best way possible. \u2026 It\u2019s a matter of I know we\u2019re in a little bit of that we got to keep fighting to get out of, get our feet back underneath us. And it\u2019s me just throwing him out there knowing we\u2019ve got to get this game. I tried to sit him as long as I can, but it\u2019s, \u2018Let\u2019s go get this game.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
The Knicks (20-8) were coming off two disappointing outings, including a defeat Friday at MSG. The first quarter felt like more of the same as they trailed by 10 points after nine minutes.<\/p>\n
But Mikal Bridges dropped 14 of his 24 points in the second quarter and Anunoby (18 points overall) was resurrected in the second half.<\/p>\n
During a 2 \u00b9\/\u2082-minute stretch early in the third quarter, Anunoby picked up a block, a dunk, another block, a midrange jumper and a 3-pointer. The Knicks went up by nine and took control. Anunoby went from zero points and zero blocks at halftime to 12 points and three blocks heading into the final period.<\/p>\n
Then Brunson took them home, negating a strong performance from Miami\u2019s Kel\u2019el Ware (28 points, 19 rebounds).<\/p>\n
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OG Anunoby dunks the ball during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 21 win against the Heat. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n
It was an encouraging result for the Knicks as they embark on a particularly challenging part of their schedule, starting with Tuesday at Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Following Sunday\u2019s win, Brown\u2019s side starts a stretch of nine of 13 on the road.<\/p>\n
By Jan. 16 \u2014 when the Knicks land in New York following a four-game trip to the Western Conference \u2014 they\u2019ll have the same amount of road games as home ones, 20 apiece, negating what started this season as an MSG-centric schedule.<\/p>\n
On top of that, seven of their next eight opponents own records of .500 or better, a stretch that finishes with arguably the toughest game yet:<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Jan. 5 at Detroit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also worth noting the Knicks are 14-2 at home and 5-6 away. Heading into a couple of potentially treacherous weeks, Brown said it\u2019s imperative for the Knicks to recapture their pre-NBA Cup form.<\/p>\n
Sunday was a good start. And it\u2019s always good to have Brunson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a simple formula, a winning formula: When in need of victory, turn to Jalen Brunson. The point…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4777,1263,21,9,11,1104,10,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-77639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-jalen-brunson","9":"tag-miami-heat","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-new-york-news","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}