Knicks fend off Bulls in overtime

Gregory Fisher - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 6 hours ago

NEW YORK - Given how things ended heading into the all-star break, the Chicago Bulls (22-34) desperately needed some time away from the court. Whether it be Zach Lavine traded to Sacramento, injuries starting to pile up, or just the inability to press a reset button and start over, the 2024-25 season has been frustrating.

To make matters worse, Patrick Williams will now miss at least two weeks to begin the second half, which will put the Bulls depth to the test. Throw in one of the toughest schedules the rest of the way, and Chicago will be in for a rough go for the duration of their season. Looking to come out of the break in style, the Bulls traveled to Madison Square Garden, where the New York Knicks (37-18) were waiting.

Despite what looked to be a David vs. Goliath matchup on paper, the Bulls have given the Knicks some battles this season, winning their first meeting by a point and battling them in their second meeting until the final few minutes. With this being their final matchup of the season, the Bulls had a chance to win the season series, which would be a small victory for a team struggling to find victories.

This was one of those games where you have to give credit where credit is due, and despite trailing by seven at the half, the Bulls battled back throughout the second half to tie things up at 104 late and sent things into overtime. Not known for their defense, the Bulls defense kept them in the game most of the night, but in the end, it wasn't enough as the Knicks held on for the 113-111 overtime win.

Chicago benefitted from several players having big games, but this was the Josh Giddey coming-out party as the guard put together arguably one of his best, if not his best, performance of the season. Not only did Giddey pace the Bulls with 27 points, but he added 16 rebounds for a massive double-double. Giddey also knocked down a season-high four triples as the Bulls connected on 19 of their 38 triples in the game.

While Giddey wound up having the best game among the Bulls, it was Nikola Vucevic who led the way for three quarters. Now that the trade talk is over, at least for the remainder of this season, Vucevic can get back to playing basketball, and with 21 points and nine boards, he did just that on Thursday. Throw in 14 points from Lonzo Ball, who was playing for the first time in two weeks, and the Bulls had three legitimate scoring options to pace the offense.

Rounding out the starting lineup for Chicago was Coby White and his 11 points as he continues to struggle shooting the ball. Chicago also saw Julian Phillips come up huge off the bench with 12 points as he filled in for Jalen Smith, who left after getting hit in the face just two minutes after he entered the game. Kevin Huerter also had his best game in a Bulls uniform with nine points in the loss.

Like the Bulls, New York had plenty of scoring options, but their starting five did most of the damage as they were responsible for 101 of the team's 113 points. Leading the way for New York was their big man Karl Anthony-Towns, who overcame a tough 2-10 from deep to finish with a game-high 32 points. Towns also played a role on the defensive end, picking up 18 boards as the Bulls had no answers for him.

Backing Towns to give the Knicks a lethal big-three combination as Miles McBride and Jalen Brunson as the duo combined to add 45 points. Twenty-three came from McBride, who knocked down five triples, while Brunson added 22 points with 12 assists.

Even with those three responsible for more than 70 points of total offense, the rest of the Knicks starting lineup had their way with the Chicago defense as Mikal Bridges picked up 13 points and 10 boards with Precious Achiuwa adding 11 points and nine boards in the victory. Things won't get any easier for Chicago as they return to the floor on Saturday and will host the Phoenix Suns.