The shot distribution was better for the Knicks, and so was the result.
The Knicks rode a much more balanced offensive attack to a 123-111 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night to snap a season-long four-game losing streak.
Six different Knicks scored in double figures — including all five starters — as they pulled away from Los Angeles in the fourth quarter.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks (24-13) with 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Karl-Anthony Towns flirted with a triple-double, overcoming a sluggish start to finish with 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Towns scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Knicks ice the victory.
OG Anunony scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting; Mikal Bridges added 15 points; and Miles “Deuce” McBride — who started over center Mitchell Robinson in a lineup change — contributed 16. Jordan Clarkson scored 12 points in 21 minutes off the bench.
All of them attempted at least nine shots.
It was a far cry from Monday night’s 121-90 loss in Detroit, where Towns and Anunoby took only four shots apiece and Brunson attempted more than twice as many field goals (21) as anyone else.
The Knicks survived 25 points from Kawhi Leonard, who managed only four in the second half.
With the win, the Knicks avoided their worst losing streak since December of 2022, when they dropped five in a row.
“It’s a great thing during the regular season, because it will help prepare you for the postseason,” head coach Mike Brown said of the recent adversity before Wednesday’s game.
“It will let you know whether or not you have the components to face adversity or tough times as a group, because you’ve already been through it once or twice throughout the course of the year.”
The Knicks made a concerted effort to move the ball from the opening tip.
That was evidenced by the fact Brunson did not take his first shot until the 6:23 mark of the first quarter. That was the Knicks’ 11th shot attempt, and every other member of the starting lineup had taken at least two by that point.
A Brunson 3-pointer less than two minutes later gave the Knicks their first lead, 21-19. But the Clippers ended the opening period on a tear, getting nine points from James Harden in the final 1:29, and took a 31-27 lead into the second quarter.
McBride gave the Knicks a spark to begin the second quarter, drilling three 3-pointers in the first three minutes. He finished with 11 points in the quarter.
But the Knicks had no answer for Leonard, who scored 13 points in the second quarter, including a contested pull-up 3-pointer that gave the Clippers a 56-51 lead at halftime.
Leonard went into the break with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 18 minutes.
Towns, meanwhile, managed only six points on 2-of-8 shooting in the first half as he struggled against Clippers 7-footer Ivica Zubac.
Towns continued to go at Zubac in the third quarter and finally drew a couple of fouls against the big man, including one that led to a three-point play and tied the game, 70-70.
Brunson took over for the Knicks from there, scoring 11 of the Knicks’ 39 points in the third quarter.
The Knicks retook the lead, 88-87, on a Clarkson three-point play with under a minute remaining in the period, and they led, 90-87, going into the fourth.
Towns entered the fourth quarter with 10 points, but he scored nine points in the first 4:06 of the period as the Knicks’ lead grew to double-digits.
The Knicks racked up 3 assists and shot 47-of-94 (50%) as a team.
Next up for the Knicks is a four-game road trip, beginning with a meeting with the Suns in Phoenix on Friday night.
