Jalen Brunson leads Knicks through slow start in win over Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS — A little letdown might have been inevitable after such an emotional win in Minnesota two nights earlier.

The Knicks are playing well, but are not above the inevitable. So they started slowly on Sunday against an overmatched opponent. They were behind most of the game. Their offense was disjointed. It wasn’t pretty.

But the Knicks also have Jalen Brunson, who hung up his mantle at the Smoothie King Center and dropped a season-high 39 points, pushing the Knicks to rally with plenty of time to spare in a 104-93 victory over the Pelicans.

It was a third win in a row for the Knicks (18-10) and required a comeback from 14 down. They got very little from Karl-Anthony Towns, who managed just 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting and dealt with early foul trouble.

But the Knicks kept chipping away, kept searching for different ways to break down New Orleans’ celebrated defense.

Finally, with 2:08 left in the third quarter, Brunson’s trey gave them the lead — and ended 25 consecutive minutes of play by the Knicks either tied or trailing.

Once the barrier was removed, the dam broke.

The Knicks never trailed again. The Pelicans (5-24) didn’t completely let go of the rope, but the grip felt precarious after their lead disappeared.

Brunson played 40 minutes and shot 13-of-19 overall and a dead-eye 7-of-10 from beyond the arc. One night Towns disappeared, Brunson carried the torch.

Brunson was also involved in a strange play in the second quarter, perhaps the first time in NBA history that a towel boy played such a significant role in a technical foul. A ball had just bounced out near the Knicks basket, and it wasn’t clear who touched it last.

The referee awarded the ball to the Knicks, but as the Pelicans considered whether to challenge the ruling, a towel boy stepped onto the court and began wiping the floor.

There was no stoppage in play, and the towel boy positioned himself directly in front of Brunson, who attempted to punch the ball in.

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Replays showed that the towel boy might have been urged onto the court by players on the Pelicans bench, including one who gave him a little shove in the back.

The official tended to the towel boy — or the Pelicans, it was unclear — and Brunson converted the foul shot to cut the deficit to 4 with 4:19 left in the half.

The Pelicans are an injury-riddled mess with the worst record in the Western Conference. Their top players Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram remain out indefinitely.

Williamson sat on the bench Sunday in street clothes, a familiar sight. Their arena was about half empty and heavy with Knicks fans.

So the expectation was a win for the visitors, who warned not to take the struggling Pelicans lightly.

“I think the biggest thing you learn is that there are good players on every team. And if you come in with the mentality that this team is struggling, or this team is not healthy, or you might not recognize a couple of names. … If you come in with that mentality, it’s going to be a tough game, and a game you could very well lose,” Josh Hart said. “So you can’t look at their record. They got talented pieces, who can play offensively and defensively have a good coach, so you have to come in with that mentality.”

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau added that there isn’t much to take from the last head-to-head, when the Knicks beat the Pelicans by 33 points on Dec. 1 at the Garden.

“Not much. Because they’ve been hit hard by injuries and so they’re getting some guys back and that affects every team,” Thibodeau said. “So you look at where you’re at and who they have available. And every game is different. … The challenge in this league is you have to be ready every night because every team can beat you. You can’t be here without being a great player.”

Still, the start suggested the Knicks might have underestimated New Orleans. Then Brunson took control.