Jalen Brunson falters late as Knicks fail first close finish in loss to Rockets

HOUSTON — The Knicks had their first close finish of the season, and Jalen Brunson failed to bring it home. 

Trailing by three with a little more than two minutes remaining, Brunson missed shots on three possessions and committed a turnover as New York’s offense sputtered in a 109-97 defeat. 

Brunson played 42 minutes because of a thin bench, and tired legs might’ve been a factor down the stretch as he scored just four points in the fourth quarter. 

The Rockets (4-3) finished the game on an 11-2 run, with Alperen Sengun dropping 25 points on the night and Jalen Green knocking down the dagger trey over Brunson with 58 seconds left. 

Houston’s defense entered Monday as the NBA’s stingiest in terms of 3-point attempts allowed, and the Knicks threw up just 28 treys — about five below their average. 

Ime Udoka’s squad was also physical with Brunson, who last season was screwed on a phantom foul call at Toyota Center that decided a Rockets victory. This time, Brunson was knocked around on his drives, shadowed and, at times in the first half, clearly wasn’t happy with the officiating while taking nine total foul shots. 

He finished with 29 points on 9 of 24 shooting. 

Still, the Knicks needed Brunson’s offense because there wasn’t much help from Miles McBride (0 points, 0-for-9), Mikal Bridges (15 points in 40 minutes on 6 of 14 shooting) and Karl-Anthony Towns (17 points, 7-for-17 from the field). 

Coach Tom Thibodeau preached ball movement before the offense managed its lowest point total of the season. 

“You’re relying on not holding the ball and you have to continue to move and make quick decisions,” Thibodeau said. “And if you do that, if it’s a hard cut, what it does, it forces the defense to collapse and react. And then you play off that. Oftentimes, it might be a swing to the corner, a cut, a drive off the cutter’s back and now you got an open shot. Everyone shares in that and then after you drive it, relocate, get back out so that the next guy has an opportunity to make a play.” 

The Rockets started with Dillon Brooks, among the peskiest and feistiest of NBA defenders, guarding Towns. 

Despite the size disadvantage (Brooks is just 6-foot-6), the strategy worked well for the home team. Towns was flustered early, unable to get by Brooks on the perimeter or move him in the post. Towns also battled foul problems, picking up his fourth early in the third quarter. But that’s also when the 7-footer started working the paint with more authority while setting a season high with 19 rebounds. 

On the other side, the Knicks had problems dealing with Sengun, who missed just four of his 15 shots while grabbing 14 boards. 

“He’s so crafty, multiple fakes, great touch and can play away from the basket, deceptive, changes speeds and knows how to create space to get a shot off,” Thibodeau said. “So you have to be disciplined, stay down, be the second jumper and then we have to be active with our reads in terms of our help. We have to guard him with our team as well. He can put the ball in the basket but he’s also a very good passer. So if you lose vision away from the play, he can you pay with his passing, especially on the baseline. So to have an awareness as to what’s going on the floor and stay disciplined with him.” 

The Knicks had two days of rest following Friday’s blowout victory over the Pistons but started slowly, appearing startled by the physicality and the relaxed whistle from the referees. They trailed by 15 in the second quarter but ended the half with a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to five at the break. 

OG Anunoby was the savior with 16 points on 5 of 7 shooting with five rebounds in the first half. He was 4 of 4 from deep in those first two quarters. The rest of the Knicks were 4 of 11. 

The Knicks bench was depleted with two of their regular reserves — Precious Achiuwa and Cam Payne — in street clothes with hamstring strains. 

Payne was a new DNP and was replaced in the rotation by rookie Tyler Kolek, who scored three points in six minutes during his first non-garbage time appearance of his career. Thibodeau’s career suggests he isn’t keen on playing rookies but he had little choice given the injuries and was impressed by Kolek in practice. 

“I really like him a lot,” the coach said. “I think he’s learning like most young guys coming into the league. He’s a gym rat. Works extremely hard. Puts a lot of time into film study. Extra work. Practice. He’s around really good veterans. That helps move it along in terms of how you learn. And then a big part of it is the trial and error of getting out there and doing it. So I think he’s putting everything he has into it. So we’ll see.” 

Thibodeau clearly lost trust. He didn’t play Kolek in the second half and relied on Brunson, who couldn’t come through in the final two minutes.