Bulls 124, Knicks 123: “Don’t let this turn into a fun one.”

For a decade, you heard Karl-Anthony Towns was soft. Well, not as a New York Knick (5-6), baby. Tonight’s game against the Chicago Bulls (5-7) was a perfect example. Play after play, Karl kept swinging when it counted. He hit his neck on the post and shook it off; he broke his knee with another player and limped off. KAT played 38 minutes last night and 39 more minutes tonight. Anyone who called Towns “soft” can be stuffed.

Despite strong efforts from Karl and Jalen Brunson to start the game, New York struggled with turnovers and poor shooting, trailing Chicago 59-47 at halftime. The Bulls ran circles around our heroes to take a 22-point lead into the third, but a Towns-led 17-0 run closed the third and cut the deficit to just five heading into the fourth. In a wild final frame, KAT was superhuman and Jalen Brunson was clutch – but his game-winner rimmed out at the buzzer. Knicks lose, 124-123.

Karl’s final stat line: 46 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals, 18-30 FG and 6-12 3P. Jalen Brunson, playing on a sprained ankle, finished with 24 points and eight assists. Mikal Bridges turned a quiet game into a total of 20 points on 8-of-15 from the floor (in 43 minutes). OG Anunoby scored 14, but had a team-worst -17 plus-minus, shooting 5-of-14 from the field. Josh Hart could be blamed for burying Coby White behind the arc with three seconds left, but he posted a team-high +12 plus-minus with eight rebounds, six points and six assists.

Cameron Payne, questionable pre-game with a sore hamstring, was a blessing off the bench. He contributed 11 of the second unit’s 13 points, hitting all four of his shots and playing defense. For Chicago, Zach LaVine finished with 31 points and White had 22, going 8-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Quoth BingBongRuinedUs: “Don’t watch this turn into something funny.” Ditto that. The loss stung, but after the lukewarm first two and a half quarters, grits in the second half were pure joy.

First half

Karl-Anthony Towns started the game with his 1,000th. three pointer. That shot put him in the elite group of 18 NBA players who have reached 13,000+ points, 6,000+ rebounds and 1,000+ three-pointers. Congratulations, big guy!

With an average of 41.5 attempts per game, the Bulls are third in the NBA in three-pointers. However, New York tried to beat them in their game, with nine of their first 14 field goals coming from beyond the arc, while the Bulls attempted six of their first 13. Despite OG Anunoby’s disruptive defense (two blocks in the first half and more deflections), the visitors outscored New York (12-9), shot better (52% to 43%) and maintained their usual pace, closing the quarter with a seven-point lead at 29-22.

To start the second, an array of Cameron Payne, Miles “Deuce” McBride, Matt Ryan, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns played closer defense and cut the deficit to three. . . before allowing seven unanswered and falling behind by 10 points. The three-ball can quickly put a lot of distance on the goalboard. After a timeout, Jalen Brunson replaced Deuce and sparked a 7-2 run.

New York’s eight turnovers and poor shooting — 41% to Chicago’s 53% — allowed the visitors to extend their lead to 14. Although shooting well this season, OG Anunoby missed eight of nine attempts (including 1-of- 6 from deep) and Josh Hart scored nothing before the break. Keeping New York afloat, Brunson and Towns combined for 33 points to offset Zach LaVine’s 19 points in the first half. At halftime the score was 59-47, Chicago.

Second half

A 16-7 run put the Bulls up by 22, their largest lead of the game. Fans grumbled. Patrick Williams hit another three and Nikola Vučević backed up Karl-Anthony Towns for another score and an And-1. However, KAT responded by fouling Vučević and sending him to the bench. With Vučević out, Towns was the engine trying to pull the Knicks’ comeback train up a high hill. However, the Knicks kept missing shots and LaVine and the Bulls kept hitting theirs. Friends, things are bleak.

Then, with Jalen Brunson on the bench, presumably still nursing his sprained ankle, the comeback train finally got going. At the end of the third, though, Bridges, KAT, Hart and Payne combined for 17 unanswered points, cutting the deficit to five (with a little help from Deuce McBride’s defense). The Bulls went scoreless for over four minutes. Fans cheered. New York ended the quarter with a 90-85 lead.

The game got wilder in the fourth! With Jalen cheering from the sidelines, Cam Payne and Karl-Anthony Towns connecting from deep, and Josh Hart setting foot on the Bulls’ frontcourt to finally give the Knicks an improbable lead. Bulls bench guys Ayo Dosunmu and Dalen Terry responded with triples and the game remained neck-and-neck through the middle of the frame.

Towns broke 40 points and somehow carried all of NYC on his broad shoulders. However, Vooch backed him back down, determined to exploit the All-Star’s Achilles heel. Then KAT missed two free throws and traveled, and Chicago promptly went up by six.

Not to worry. A rested Brunson checked back in and showed poise under pressure, sharing management duties with Karl. Both teams got stops, both teams made shots. Patrick Williams missed his first three-pointer and Towns responded with a dunk to tie the game at 119 with a minute left. When LaVine sent the ball out of bounds, Jalen answered with a bucket for the lead with 36 seconds left.

Dosunmu made two free throws to tie the game, but Jalen Brunson drove in a layup to lead again with 4.6 seconds left.

On the inbounds, Chicago’s Coby White caught and shot from deep. He missed but skinned like a first year drama student as Hart brushed off. An error was called. White made all three. Jalen watched the clock expire, but it timed out. Ball game.

Notes

• On this day in 1998, Hall of Fame coach Red Holzman, who led the franchise to championships in 1970 and 1973 and a record 613 wins, died at age 78 of leukemia.
• Josh Hart recorded 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists vs 76ers on Tuesday, marking his seventh triple-double as a Knick and tying him with Mark Jackson for the fifth-most in franchise history.
• Chicago rookie Matas Buzelis had recorded three blocks prior to tonight’s game – and matched that with three more in the first half.
• Tonight’s Trivia: Before tonight, Josh Giddey had a triple-double in each of his first three career games at Madison Square Garden. Does that sound impressive? Larry Bird had six in his first six games at MSG.
• This was Karl-Anthony Towns’ 15th career 40+ point game.
• KAT missed four expensive free throws tonight. After the game, MSG’s camera caught him setting up shots from the charity stripe. It’s a Knick.

Next

Next, the Nets visit the Garden on Friday for another IST game. Rest up, Knickerbockers.

Box Score