Knicks come back from 19-point deficit to beat Heat in overtime as Jalen Brunson again leads the way

MIAMI — He did it again.

Jalen Brunson came up big when the Knicks needed him most, scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to lead the Knicks to a 116-112 comeback win — their biggest comeback victory of the season — over the Miami Heat on Sunday.

Two days after willing the Knicks to a big win over Memphis, Brunson kept them from what would have been an embarrassing loss to the shorthanded Heat, digging them out of a 19-point third-quarter hole in a Kaseya Center that seemed to have as many Knicks fans as those cheering for the Heat.

Brunson scored 26 points after halftime and finished with 31 points and six assists. He had 10 points in the fourth quarter, including the driving layup with 26.8 seconds left that tied the score at 105. In overtime, he hit a 27-foot three-pointer with 2:27 left that gave the Knicks the lead for good at 110-109.

“You sort of get used to it,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “The thing I liked — he was such a big part of it — but his teammates too finding a way to win.”

Brunson got some help from a strong two-way game from OG Anunoby, who scored 23 points and guarded everyone from Tyler Herro to Bam Adebayo. Karl-Anthony Towns added 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Deuce McBride — who played in place of the struggling Mikal Bridges late in the game — had 12 points, including a pull-up jumper that gave the Knicks their first lead with 2:58 left in regulation.

Adebayo had 30 points and Herro added 22 for Miami (28-31).

The win was the third straight for the Knicks (40-20), who are 5-0 in overtime this season.

The victory over a sub-.500 opponent was a much-needed one as the Knicks head into a stretch in which five of their six opponents have winning records. After playing Golden State at the Garden on Tuesday, they face a West Coast trip against the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Trail Blazers and Golden State.

Judging from comments he made before the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wasn’t surprised that Brunson was the one to push his team to a victory.

“He’s a tough guy to game-plan against because he’s so clever. And he’s relentless,” Spoelstra said. “And he’s not going to stop. If you happen to get a stop on him on any given possession, it’s not like the next possession, he’s going to ease up at all. He has great stamina to do what he does. He’s second in the league in drives, second in the league in fouls drawn. You have to be pretty persistent to do that, especially for a player with his size.”

The Knicks should have entered the game looking to step on a struggling Miami squad. The Heat opened the night in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and had gone 3-6 since Jimmy Butler was traded.

They also were missing three rotation players. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Andrew Wiggins were ruled out before the game with ankle injuries. Nikola Jovic is expected to be out until the end of March with a broken hand.

It was the Knicks, however, who looked shorthanded early as the Heat dominated them on both ends of the floor. Miami shot 26-for-40 in the first half and four of the Knicks’ starters — Brunson, Towns, Bridges and Anunoby — shot 7-for-28.

In his on-court postgame interview, Brunson credited Thibodeau’s halftime speech for getting the team going.

“We know what we’re capable of as a team, and Thibs knows that. He just had to remind us,” Brunson said. “When we take a slow start, obviously we’ve gotta come back with some fire. We decided to do that a little late, but we came out of it with a win.”  

The Knicks put together a 21-5 run to cut a 79-60 deficit to 84-81, and after subsequently falling behind by 12, they took their first lead of the game at 101-100.

Herro hit a three-pointer and a jumper to put the Heat ahead 105-101 with 1:17 left, but Anunoby tipped in Brunson’s miss and Brunson drove for a lunging righthanded layup to tie it with 26.8 seconds remaining.

After Miami went ahead 109-107, Brunson’s three-pointer, a free throw by Anunoby, Josh Hart’s driving layup through traffic and Brunson’s free throw gave the Knicks a 114-109 lead with 42.3 seconds left.

Former Knick Alec Burks sank a three-pointer with 27.3 seconds left to bring Miami within 114-112, but Bridges found Anunoby for a dunk with 17.3 seconds left, Adebayo missed a three-pointer and Towns rebounded to end it.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.