Knicks defeat Suns as Jalen Brunson scores career-high 50 points, shoots 9-for-9 from three-point range

PHOENIX — Jalen Brunson had been on fire all night long, so as the game was winding down to the final minutes, why not try one more?

He put up a long three-pointer, and of course he was on target — just like every other shot he’d taken from beyond the arc Friday night.

That gave Brunson a career-high 50 points and 9-for-9 shooting from three-point range as the Knicks rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to record a 139-122 win over the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center.

Julius Randle ran from the bench as time expired and grabbed the ball out of the hands of reserve guard Ryan Arcidiacono, holding it over his head and making sure he had it secured for Brunson — avoiding the sort of drama that occurred with the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo after his franchise-record 64-point game against the Pacers earlier in the week.

"Yeah, we couldn’t have that,'' Randle said. "Had to make sure we got the real game ball. I don’t trust Ryan with the game ball. They might look at him and think, we can take that. I had to make sure I got it and I secured it.''

Brunson shot 17-for-23 overall and also had nine assists, six rebounds and five steals. Referring to Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, Tom Thibodeau said, “I was telling his father, he had his career in one night.”

Brunson's field-goal percentage of 73.9% was the highest in any 50-point performance in franchise history. He became the first player since 1979-1980 to score at least 50 points and shoot 100% from three-point range (minimum eight attempts). He tied Latrell Sprewell and Ben Gordon (twice) for the most three-point makes without a miss in NBA history.

Randle scored 23 points and RJ Barrett added 21 for the Knicks (14-10). Kevin Durant had 29 points, Devin Booker 28 and Jusuf Nurkic 21 for the Suns (13-12).

it was Brunson who outshot the dangerous Suns stars, and it wasn’t just the points but how he did it. In the second half, he scored 35 points and shot 12-for-12, including 8-for-8 from three point range.

Said Randle: "The good thing is we won and it just naturally happened through the flow of the game. I don’t think he was trying to go get 50 or whatever. He just was coming down, making the right play, into his spots and hitting his shots.''

Brunson was 3-for-21 from three-point range in his previous four games and shot 0-for-6 Wednesday night against Utah. "It’s the game of basketball,'' he said. "The ball either goes in or it doesn’t So it’s all about trusting your mechanics and staying confident and not trying to get too down on yourself. Just get ready for the next one.''

The Knicks have emphasized shooting three-pointers, and there was little doubt that they wanted him to keep firing.

“The game will tell you what to do,”  Thibodeau said beforehand. “That was one of the things we emphasized from when we first got here, just looking at where we were. Shot profile was very important to us. You see the value of threes.

“When you look at the progression year by year, not only our team but the individual players, that’s one of the big things with Julius’ game, he elevated his game. You saw the same thing with Jalen. Threes can help you in a lot of ways, but it’s not just the threes. It’s the layups. It’s the free throws. It’s value shots. So understanding the type of shots you’re trying to create. You can’t be high volume — we’re top 10 in attempts, we were fifth going into the Utah game in percentage and we’re also top 10 in makes — you can’t get there without a team working together to create those shots for each other.”

All game long, the offense had been the Knicks’ saving grace. Brunson was on fire and his teammates joined in well enough to keep the Knicks in the game as they tried to match the Suns shot for shot.

Brunson took over for the Knicks in the third quarter, scoring 19 points and shooting 7-for-7, including 5-for-5 from beyond the arc. "You got to treat it the same,'' he said. "Still got to talk to your teammates, be yourself. I didn’t really realize what was going on. Just try to win the game.''

And then with the lead secured, it was the defense midway through the fourth quarter — a steal by Brunson and consecutive blocked shots by Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein, then another steal — that gave the Knicks the nudge they needed to secure the win. And after the defense provided the edge, Brunson sank two consecutive long threes, pushing the Knicks’ lead to 18 after the game was a back-and-forth affair for most of the night.

After falling behind 93-83 with 4:27 left in the third quarter, they outscored the Suns 50-21 in a little more than 14 minutes to take a 133-114 lead.

The Suns finally got all three of their stars in place Wednesday against the Nets, but the chance to have them perform again was cut short quickly on this night.

Just 4:32 into the game, Bradley Beal rose for a three-point field goal but came down on the heel of Donte DiVincenzo, badly turning his right ankle. DiVincenzo was assessed a flagrant foul for being in his landing space and Beal remained in the game to make the free throw before limping to the locker room, his night over.

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

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.