New York Knicks lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-100: Not quite good enough

The New York Knicks faded against the Oklahoma City Thunder, losing 111-100. New York got within two points in the final five minutes, but the Thunder ran away with the game after.

The night started with both teams defending well. The Knicks looked sloppy with only Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges scoring, while the Thunder had their own difficulties. The teams stayed neck and neck throughout the first half, with timely shooting and execution staving off any runs.

But the Thunder began to build on their lead in the third quarter. New York’s bench came in and made a run with Karl-Anthony Towns leading the way. KAT sat for one possession, and somehow the Thunder snatched all momentum. The Knicks stopped scoring, and SGA took over, turning a two-point lead into double-digits before the buzzer.

The Knicks came close again but suffered another letdown. April is approaching, and they still haven’t put everything together. Let’s see where the struggles start and solutions wait by checking out the performances.

Performances like these are exasperating. Any time Towns asserted himself and got a position in the post, his teammates found him with great success. Towns bullied Alex Caruso for points in the first half, and did the same to everyone else during a comeback run in the fourth quarter.

But KAT didn’t assert himself often enough. He spent too much time on the perimeter, turning the ball over with the kinds of offensive fouls that have dogged him all season. His defensive rotations were a step behind, too, recalling earlier struggles.

When Towns attacks, teams can’t stop him. He settled too often tonight.

If either OG Anunoby or Karl-Anthony Towns provided their usual scoring, Jalen Brunson’s 32-point performance probably puts the Knicks over the top. Unfortunately, there was no second scorer to help him out. Brunson gave the Knicks their only consistent scoring touch of the night.

But even Brunson had issues. The Thunder’s ball denial forced Brunson into long possessions without passing the ball, leading to turnovers when he rushed to move it. His playmaking came back to Earth, too, so teammates didn’t get the easy rhythm looks that Brunson’s created in his best recent performances.

This is a strange night because Josh Hart didn’t score in transition and never got anything off going to the basket. But that didn’t stop Hart from being an impact player because he made timely three-pointer after timely three-pointer.

I’ll credit Hart for staying in front of SGA and Jalen Williams as well. They made shots over him or got friendly whistles, but Hart at least made them work for their baskets.

Mikal Bridges played aggressive basketball from the start, and New York needed it. He had 10 points before anyone other than Jalen Brunson had two field goals. I’ll credit Bridges as the best defender of the night as well by pursuing the passing lanes to generate steals.

Bridges ran into the Thunder whistles and fouled out before the game wrapped. But that’s a credit to his efforts to play physical defense when most other Knicks shrank away from contact.

This was as disappointing a performance as OG Anunoby could have. He didn’t make a field goal inside the arc, didn’t register a single rebound, and didn’t do enough defensively to make up for his ineffective offense.

Anunoby simply wasn’t aggressive enough for this performance to be adequate. It’s a letdown, plain and simple.

Jose Alvarado was the only player off the bench to make more than one field goal. He led the bench in scoring, and with everyone else playing poorly, he got this spot on the list by default.

Alvarado made a couple of early threes, and he should have kept taking the shot. But GTA kept pump faking and driving, where the Thunder’s big men bottled him up and forced turnovers.

Another game against elite competition, another close let down. The Knicks are stumbling into the postseason at the moment. They stand as a high ceiling, low floor team. It feels like they’ve been closer to the floor lately.

But it’s not all bad. Mikal Bridges is stringing together improved performances. We’ve seen Brunson and KAT put on great performances in recent games. Hopefully, Deuce McBride’s able to return soon. Things can come together quickly.

Another tough test awaits with the Rockets up next. I’ll see you to discuss the results after that game, Knicks’ fam!