With the Knicks’ bench depleted Thursday night due to the absence of Josh Hart, Tom Thibodeau stuck with four of his five starters — all but OG Anunoby — for the entire third quarter on the tail end of back-to-back games with the Knicks trailing one of the worst teams in the league.
Thibodeau eventually rested his starters for a brief period early in the fourth, before Jalen Brunson took over the game and bailed out the Knicks, who eventually pulled out a too-close, 113-109 win over the lowly Wizards at the Garden to open the second half of their 82-game schedule.
Brunson poured in 20 of his game-high 41 points in the final quarter, while Julius Randle finished with 21 for the Knicks (25-17).
“Whatever it takes to win. Teammates and coaches have confidence in me, and I have confidence in them. We just want to win. Whatever it is, whatever needs to be done,” Brunson said. “It’s the end of the game; you’re trying to win. It’s a little different, but the approach stays the same. I gotta have the same attacking mindset, but I also gotta be smart. You gotta know time, score and situation. It’s a little different but not that much.”
Brunson, who added eight assists and eight rebounds, also joked during his on-court interviews that “it must be a Villanova thing,” referencing the game being billed as “Villanova night” at MSG.
“He’s an All-Star. Just make sure he’s in Indiana or we’re going to riot a little bit. We might have to all pull up to Indiana,” Isaiah Hartenstein said.
Donte DiVincenzo, Brunson’s former Villanova backcourt mate, and Anunoby contributed 19 points apiece as the Knicks improved to 18-0 this season against teams that began play Thursday with a losing record.
(They had lost in Utah earlier in the season, but the streaking Jazz have since moved above the .500 mark with a six-game winning streak).
“I can’t stand playing with [Brunson],” DiVincenzo joked. “No, it’s what you’d expect. You’re starting in the backcourt with your best friend, your college roommate. It’s as good as it gets.”
With Hart (knee soreness) sidelined for the first time this season, Thibodeau inserted Evan Fournier into the nine-man rotation for only his third appearance of the season.
But the 31-year-old Fournier, who the Knicks have been unable to trade despite his $18.9 million expiring contract, was held scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting in just six minutes of action.
Jordan Poole scored 24 points, and Marvin Bagley III had 20 for the Wizards, who have dropped eight of nine to fall to 7-33 overall.
Randle netted 10 early points, including two makes from 3-point land, as the Knicks doubled up the visitors, 20-10 in the first eight minutes of the game.
Still, the Wizards closed the quarter on a 12-2 spurt to draw even at 22-22, with Deni Avdija finishing the session with a team-high eight points.
Minus Hart, the Knicks’ second unit missed nine of 10 field-goal attempts in the half — including an 0-for-3 showing by recently rumored trade chip Quentin Grimes.
Washington actually seized a six-point advantage with five minutes remaining before halftime, but Brunson buried a 3-pointer and managed a traditional three-point play to help the Knicks retake the lead.
Brunson finished the half with 16 points and Randle had 12, but the Knicks missed 17 of 21 attempts from 3-point range through two quarters and nursed a 56-55 lead into intermission.
Anunoby and DiVincenzo nailed treys in the opening two minutes of the third to help the Knicks extend the cushion to five.
Another triple by Anunoby reopened the lead to nine midway through the quarter, but the Knicks let the Wizards rattle off 13 of the next 16 points to grab a 69-68 turnaround lead.
A late bucket in the paint by Hartenstein (17 rebounds) put the Knicks back up by one, however, and triggered an 11-3 spurt bridging the final two quarters for an 82-75 lead with 10 minutes left. Brunson, Randle, Hartenstein and DiVincenzo went the distance in the third.
Brunson scored 11 straight Knicks points during one four-minute stretch later in the fourth, as the Knicks closed out their eighth win in 10 games with Anunoby in the lineup since his Dec. 30 acquisition from Toronto.
“We didn’t play great, obviously, but we found a way to win, which is the most important thing. Our turnovers were costly, but just find a way to win the game. That’s the bottom line,” Thibodeau said. “Jalen, I think the game tells him what to do.
“But also Isaiah’s rebounding, Julius [had] some big plays, clutch shots. Donte, and OG was OG. He’s something.”
