After losing both a game and Jalen Brunson last night against the Lakers, the New York Knicks (40-23) returned to action tonight. This time they challenged the Los Angeles Clippers (34-29), who haven’t had a great season but do have a top-five defensive rating, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden. Pushovers? Not exactly, and not without the Captain.
The Knicks fought but fell short without Brunson. They clawed back to take the lead after an early hole, fueled by Karl-Anthony Towns, Miles McBride, and Josh Hart. But the Clippers, led by Harden’s shot-making and Nic Batum’s infuriating accuracy, kept answering every Knicks run. Our heroes hung tough through three quarters, down just one heading into the fourth. Then the wheels came off. An inept offense that produced 17 fourth-quarter points doomed them. Final score, 105-95.
For Los Angeles, Harden and Leonard combined for 47 points and Ivica Zubac logged a 16-14 double-double.
Quoth Jaybugkit: “Ofc Batum is left wide open.” The Knicks’ defense was actually good for stretches tonight, but L.A. had wayyy too many open looks from the perimeter. They made 11-of-20 in the first half and cooled a bit to finish 15-of-38 overall. Batum drilled five of those.
For New York, Towns logged a 23-10 double-double but was a net negative in the fourth quarter when New York needed the most. Hart finished the night with a 14-point, 19-rebound double-double, but was reluctant to shoot when open and a turnstile on defense at times. McBride started tonight and made just two shots for seven points in his 34 minutes. OG Anunoby logged 11 points, eight boards, two steals, and a block, but shot 4-of-15 (2-of-8 from deep). Mikal Bridges actually drew a few fouls! And he reached 22 points . . . but that was due to empty buckets late.
When the Knicks needed someone to enliven the offense, either these guys were too tired or they lacked the confidence to do so. Landry Shamet seemed promising but played just 17 minutes . . . in a game without two rotational players (Brunson and Mitchell Robinson). C’mon, Thibs!
First Half
Without Jalen Brunson, Knicks’ coach Tom Thibodeau started a line-up of Miles “Deuce” McBride, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
In a game of runs, the Clippers started by scoring nine unanswered and punishing the Knicks inside. New York missed shots and coughed up turnovers, looking rudderless without their Captain. Then Towns dunked, McBride drilled a three, Hart and Anunoby chipped in, and suddenly it was a game. A 12-2 run for our heroes!
Midway through the quarter, the teams traded blows. Nicolas Batum and James Harden kept L.A. ahead, but Hart wouldn’t let them pull away. Without his BFF, Josh was particularly energized, including an electrifying coast-to-coast score. He and Anunoby delivered big buckets late in the frame, forcing a Clippers timeout.
Without Jalen Brunson, the Knicks are going to need some time to become a competent half court offense, which makes Josh Hart's pace more important than ever.
Getting this off of a make is NUTSpic.twitter.com/2qWYGx2NON
— The Strickland (@TheStrickland) March 8, 2025
The Knicks’ Landry Shamet gave Hart a breather around the two-minute mark and impacted the game immediately, picking James Harden’s pocket and getting to the foul line for two. After that, though, the Clippers closed the quarter with yet another run, 9-0, thanks to pesky play by Harden and a three-pointer by Derrick Jones, Jr. Home team ahead, 31-25.
New York exploded to start the second quarter with 12 unanswered points. Excellent defensive play led to offensive results. Towns drilled a deep three, Cameron Payne pushed the pace, and Precious Achiuwa threw down a dunk to keep the party pumping.
Positive: Mikal Bridges drew fouls on THREE consecutive possessions. That is noteworthy because he had attempted free throws in just 28 out of 62 games this season. He scored eight of his ten first-half points in Q2. Negative: attempted only five shots in the half. That’s fewer attempts than Hart and McBride in a game without Jalen Brunson. Hand scratch head.
The Clippers punched back, of course. Harden and Leonard hit tough jumpers, and Nicolas Batum rained threes. Turnovers crept in and the game got sloppy. Bridges lost the handle, Harden threw one away, and Zubac fumbled the rock out of bounds. With another terrible close to the quarter, New York allowed an 8-2 Clipper run to fall behind 60-54 by halftime.
In the half, New York scored 12 points off of L.A.’s eight turnovers, had won the boards 22-21, and shot 40% (6-of-15) from deep. Towns topped their scoresheet with 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Clippers had shot a scorching 11-of-20 from downtown. Harden scored 19 points in 19 minutes. Batum must circle New York on the schedule because he seems to always bring his best against them. In the first half, he made all four of his three-point attempts to collect 14 points. Boo.
Second Half
Befitting of Tinseltown, everybody stuck to the script. The Knicks scored six, then the Clippers scored eight. Back-to-back triples from McBride and Towns made up for previous misses, and the team’s defensive lapses, to cut their deficit to three. Josh passed up on open threes, which is always frustrating.
The Clippers kept pace. Kawhi hit tough mid-range shots and Harden bombed threes. Turnovers piled up for both sides: Bridges fumbled one, Anunoby got whistled for a charge, and Harden coughed it up (but bailed himself out with a step-back three).
Here’s Kawhi with an impressive drive that left Josh behind:
Late in the quarter, things got chippy and the refs tuned up their whistles. Thanks to an Anunoby And-1, the Knicks clawed within a point by the buzzer, 79-78.
To start the fourth, New York relied too heavily on Cam Payne and was outscored 15-7. That put them behind by nine by midway through the period. They allowed more wide-open three-point attempts, no kidding. KAT sat through the first six minutes, and when he did return, he missed multiple shots, committed multiple fouls, and was out-hustled twice by Bogdan Bogdanovic for rebounds. It wasn’t a pretty stretch for the big fella.
Why is Batum an All-Star when he plays New York?
Record de saison explosé et plus gros temps de jeu de la saison, mais en fin de match Nico Batum (36 ANS) trouve encore l'énergie pour bâcher pic.twitter.com/FjWkvUuSXi
— Tom Compayrot (@Tom_Cprt) March 8, 2025
Without Jalen to play the hero in the final frame, and their coach bereft of ideas for producing points, the Knicks employed a stand-around strategy that yielded predictable results. Mikal Bridges managed to tack on a few stat-padding points in crunch time. Last night, the Knicks scraped up just 15 points in the fourth quarter; tonight, they reached 17. Knicks basketball might be ugly for a while, friends and neighbors.
Up Next
The Knicks mosey up to Sacramento to see how the Kings are doing on Monday. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.
Box Score