Knicks shoot 22-for-40 from outside arc, beat Kings to end losing streak at three games
OG Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks shoots the ball against Trey Lyles #41 of the Sacramento Kings in the first half at Golden 1 Center on March 10, 2025 in Sacramento, California. Credit: Getty Images
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — From the moment that Jalen Brunson crashed to the floor Thursday night, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has expressed a simple reality.
“The challenge is you’re not going to replace Jalen individually,” Thibodeau said before Monday night’s game at Golden 1 Center. “We understand that. We have to do it collectively.”
So they did. Deuce McBride, starting in place of Brunson for the second straight game, controlled the game early. Josh Hart joined in, showing the return of his three-point shot. OG Anunoby was so effective on both ends of the floor that the usually stoic wing actually danced off the court to the bench after a steal and a three-point field goal in the third quarter.
The Knicks got contributions up and down the lineup and dominated the Kings, emptying the bench midway through the fourth quarter with the lead up to 35 and snapping a three-game losing streak with a 133-104 win.
Unlike the first game without Brunson, when the Knicks had less than 24 hours to adjust to life without their star, they had two days off to ready themselves for this game while the Kings were coming off an overtime loss on Sunday night.
It gave McBride time to adjust to the starting point guard role. The Knicks also made the signing of P.J. Tucker official on Monday morning, providing a veteran voice to the locker room with a championship pedigree and the toughness to help translate the message of the coaching staff to a team trying to hang on until Brunson comes back.
The lead ballooned to as many as 28 points in the third quarter, and by the time the fourth quarter began, the crowd was heading for the exits. While Tucker’s role was cheering on his new teammates on this night, he had a lot of work to do with that.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 26 points and Anunoby had 24 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and five steals. McBride had 21 points — 15 in the first quarter, when he shot 5-for-5 — and seven assists. Hart chipped in 18 points, hitting four three-pointers, and Mikal Bridges had 15 points and eight assists.
"it’s good when you could go out there and show better, a great version of yourselves," Towns said. "I thought we did a great job of moving the ball, high assist game, playing as a team. The defense stayed for the last two games. Just continue to put the building blocks together."
The Knicks (41-23) shot 22-for-40 from three-point range, tied for the second-most three-pointers in franchise history (they sank 24 against the Magic on Oct. 22, 2021). They actually shot better on three-pointers than two-pointers (23-for-44) and had 34 assists on 45 baskets.
But the defense might have been even better. Anunoby stifled DeMar DeRozan and McBride and Bridges were tenacious at the point of attack.
"Turning defense to offense," Hart said. "Just playing fast. We have extremely skilled guys, so playing fast without JB fits us very well. So that was something we were trying to do.”
Tucker was on the court Monday morning, adorned in a pair of sneakers — one orange, one blue — to celebrate his arrival with the Knicks.
“Celebrate’’ might seem an exaggeration for Tucker, given that he was just signed to a 10-day contract after sitting out the entire season while being shuttled from the payroll of the Clippers, Jazz and Raptors before being waived on Feb. 28. But Tucker insisted that this is an opportunity he has been waiting for. It is a chance to provide a veteran presence to a contending team.
“It was a process,” he said. “But I wanted to go somewhere that I could be me, where I could continue to get better even 20 years in. Be with a group of really good young guys and vets that are trying to achieve something. And they got a chance to do it. So just here to help any way I can.
“It was interesting. Because I was like, I’ve never been on a 10-day before. It’s different. But I was willing to do whatever I could to be able to be on this team. I’ve kind of done it all already, so for me, it’s not a big deal. I’m cool with earning my stripes.”
If things go as expected, Tucker likely will be with the Knicks for the remainder of the regular season. He’ll be able to sign a second 10-day contract and then a deal to finish out the regular season while eligible for the playoffs.
It may seem a humbling way to play out a season at 39 years old with a long resume that includes helping the Milwaukee Bucks to a championship and then being part of a Miami Heat team that reached the Eastern Conference finals a year later. But consider how Tucker started his career. As a second-round pick of the Raptors in 2006, he headed overseas the next season to play in Israel, Ukraine and Germany before finally returning to the NBA six years later.
And despite the 10-day contract, he has a role with the Knicks. He can help provide a veteran, championship-pedigree voice steeped with toughness and honesty to a team stuck a level below the top teams in the NBA. He can help a team lacking that overachieving ethic that marked last season’s team.
“I don’t know if it’s about being a tough guy or like that,” Tucker said. “I get it. That’s how people think. But I’m just a realist. And I want to win. I don’t know another way to put it. I guess my reputation over the years of being tough on the court and kind of being vocal a little bit. Yeah, but that’s all a part of just winning for me.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
