NBA

New York Knicks at New Orleans Pelicans

· National Basketball Association
18-10, 10-6 Away
Final
104 - 93

5-24, 4-10 Home

Brunson scores season-high 39 points to lead Knicks past Pelicans 104-93

Trey Murphy III gets the basket plus the foul

All-NBA defensive player Herb Jones pressured Brunson in the first half, picking him up at three-quarters court. That pressure led to the Knicks’ 35.6% shooting in the first half, when New Orleans held a 49-45 lead.

But Brunson caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 16 points, including 13 straight, in a 22-6 run that erased a 65-52 deficit and gave New York a 74-71 lead. Brunson scored nine of the Knicks’ first 13 points of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 95-81.

New Orleans, which lost for the 15th time in its last 16 games, was paced by Trey Murphy III with 26 points. Dejounte Murray added 14 points for New Orleans.

The Knicks also got 18 points from Mikal Bridges and 16 from OG Anunoby.

Takeaways Knicks: Karl-Anthony Towns was limited to 5 points in the first half on 1-of-5 shooting. He played only 10 minutes after picking up his third foul 44 seconds into the second quarter.

Pelicans: New Orleans had not led by double digits in a game since a 126-124 victory over Phoenix on Dec. 5. The Pelicans led 45-32 midway through the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Brandon Boston but faltered down the stretch..

Key moment The Knicks trailed 65-52 midway through the third quarter but buried the Pelicans with a 43-14 run over a 10:48 span in the third and fourth quarters to take a 95-81 lead.

Key stat Brunson finished 13 of 19 from the floor, including 7 of 10 from long range and 6 of 6 from the line.

Up next The Knicks will host Toronto on Monday night, and the Pelicans will host Denver Sunday night.

Regular Season Series

NY wins series 2-0

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 104 - 93
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 104 - 93
4th 11.1 CJ McCollum makes driving layup 104 - 93
4th 16.1 Jalen Brunson makes free throw 2 of 2 104 - 91
4th 16.1 Jalen Brunson makes free throw 1 of 2 103 - 91

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/ny.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNY https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/no.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNO
38-87 FG 34-83
44 Field Goal % 41
15-37 3PT 12-34
41 Three Point % 35
13-15 FT 13-19
87 Free Throw % 68
42 Rebounds 45
15 Offensive Rebounds 16
27 Defensive Rebounds 29
24 Assists 23
11 Steals 8
3 Blocks 5
16 Turnovers 19
1 Team Turnovers 0
17 Total Turnovers 19
0 Technical Fouls 1
0 Total Technical Fouls 1
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
23 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 19
15 Fast Break Points 15
40 Points in Paint 40
18 Fouls 20
14 Largest Lead 14
New Orleans Pelicans New Orleans Pelicans Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Jordan Poole, G Day-To-Day Dec 25
Herbert Jones, F Out Dec 25
Dejounte Murray, G Out Sep 25
New York Knicks New York Knicks Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Josh Hart, G Day-To-Day Dec 25
Miles McBride, G Out Dec 24
Landry Shamet, G Out Dec 24

Game Information

Smoothie King Center

Location: New Orleans, LA
Attendance: 16,696 · Capacity:

2025-26 Atlantic Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
New York 21 9 .700 - W1
Boston 18 11 .621 2.5 W3
Toronto 18 13 .581 3.5 W1
Philadelphia 16 12 .571 4 L1
Brooklyn 9 19 .321 11 W2

2025-26 Southwest Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
San Antonio 23 7 .767 - W8
Houston 17 10 .630 4.5 L2
Memphis 14 16 .467 9 W1
Dallas 12 20 .375 12 L1
New Orleans 8 23 .258 15.5 L1
Full Standings

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