The Phoenix Suns have swept the season series against the New York Knicks after beating them 106-99 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. The Suns took advantage of the Knicks once again being without Jalen Brunson and handed them their third straight loss and fourth in the last five games.
Devin Booker top-scored for the Suns on his return from an ankle injury with 27 points (7-18 FG), four rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Grayson Allen followed up his 33-point outing against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday with 16 points (4-14 FG), three assists, and one steal, while Mark Williams had 14 points (5-8 FG), nine rebounds, one assist, and one block. The Suns snapped a two-game losing streak with this win and are now 25-17 on the season.
Miles McBride led the way for the Knicks in Brunson’s absence with 23 points (9-18 FG), two rebounds, five assists, and two steals, and he continues to be a huge bright spot for this team. Karl-Anthony Towns also had 23 points (7-16 FG), 11 rebounds, two assists, and one block, but had two airballs in the fourth. Towns wasn’t at his best, and the Knicks have now dropped to 25-17, the same record as the Suns.
Knicks Blow Their Advantage In The Third Quarter
Both these teams were trading blows in the second quarter and then at the start of the third, after which the Knicks looked to have seized control. They went on a massive 16-0 run to build up a 10-point lead with five minutes remaining in the quarter. The Knicks were in a position to put their foot on the visitors’ throats, but blew their advantage right away.
The Suns went on a 13-0 run to end the quarter to take an 80-77 lead into the fourth. While they did a lot of good, the Knicks shot themselves in the foot, too. They had four turnovers in that stretch. Also crucially, the Knicks had a foul to give on the Suns’ final possession of the period, and instead of using it, allowed Booker to get an and-one.
Were it not for these mistakes, the Knicks could have come away with the win.
A Huge Difference In Bench Production
With Josh Hart out, along with Brunson, the Knicks needed some unlikely heroes to step up here, but they got very little from their reserves. Their bench scored just 14 points in this one on 4-15 shooting (26.6%) from the field.
Jordan Clarkson was perhaps the biggest culprit, with six points on 2-8 shooting. He had the second-worst plus-minus on the Knicks at -13. The only one worse off was Tyler Kolek, who was a -17 in his 17 minutes off the bench.
Allen ended up outscoring the Knicks’ bench by himself with his 16 points. Jordan Goodwin also chipped in with 13 points as the Suns’ bench combined for 39 points. That’s a huge 25-point advantage for the visitors right there.
Suns Capitalize On Turnovers, Knicks Don’t On Offensive Rebounds
The Suns are great at forcing turnovers, and they were at it again. The Knicks had 17 turnovers in total on the night, and the visitors got 19 points off them.
The Suns, meanwhile, committed 12 turnovers here but only conceded 10 points off them. That’s a notable nine-point advantage in a seven-point win.
While the Suns capitalized in an area where they had the edge, the Knicks did not. They are the better rebounding team and had a 47-37 advantage on the glass. The Knicks hauled in 15 offensive rebounds compared to 13 for the Suns, but it was the visitors who got more second-chance points.
The Suns had 21 second-chance points compared to 17 for the Knicks. There is no use in getting those offensive rebounds if you cannot turn them into points.
