The New York Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 123-111 tonight after coming back from 51-56 at the end of the first half. While Kawhi Leonard and James Harden started the game hot, they eventually went cold down the stretch, and the Knicks capitalized.
Leonard had 21 of his 25 points in the first half, including a 15-point outburst in the second quarter. After a solid start to the first half where he showed glimpses of his old self, James Harden scored only two of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, while Leonard scored none.
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It was the resilient defense from the Knicks that locked down these two stars in the most crucial moments of the game.
The Clippers forward finished the game with 25 points, three rebounds, four assists, and three steals while shooting 10-20 from the field (50.0%) and 3-7 from beyond the arc (42.9%).
Harden finished the game with 23 points, three rebounds, and nine assists while shooting an inefficient 6-17 from the field (35.3%) and 4-7 from the three-point line (57.1%).
Jalen Brunson led all scorers in the game with 26 points, three rebounds, and seven assists while making nine of his 12 field-goal attempts (75.0 %) and four of his five shots from deep (80.0%).
Karl-Anthony Towns also had a solid performance, but he struggled to find efficiency. He had 20 points and 11 rebounds at the end of the game, but did not make a single three-pointer in four attempts and shot 6-18 from the field (33.3%).
“I thought defensively we did some really good things. Brunson really took over the game down the stretch. I thought KAT was aggressive the whole game; getting his matchups, getting his angles on the drives,” said Clippers’ head coach Tyronn Lue.
During the post-game press conference, he also acknowledged that even Towns’ physicality, despite a lack of efficiency, caused a momentum shift for the Knicks.
“Kawhi, I think offensively, had a really good first half, but in the second half, they said they were not going to let him play. They blitzed his pick-and-rolls; they were packing the paint. He and James did a good job of making the right plays defensively, but we just couldn’t make shots in that second half,” Lue added on Leonard and Harden.
The Knicks had been on a four-game losing streak and had lost five of their last seven games without Josh Hart, their veteran defensive guard. Tonight, they improved to 24-13 to tie with the Celtics as the second seed in the East.
They will face the Suns in their next game on the road on Friday, January 9. Meanwhile, the Clippers fell to 13-23 as a result of this loss and will face the Nets in Brooklyn on Friday as well.
