Jalen Brunson scored 33 points in three quarters Friday night for the host New York Knicks, who rode their biggest game-opening run on record to a 146-112 rout of the visiting Utah Jazz.
The Knicks raced out to a 23-0 lead, their longest game-opening run since at least 1996-97, when the NBA began tracking play-by-play data.
New York led by at least 19 thereafter as it completed a second straight wire-to-wire win. The Knicks, who beat the Charlotte Hornets 119-104 on Wednesday, improved to 12-1 at Madison Square Garden, their best start at home since the 1992-93 team won 13 of its first 14 games on its court.
The victory Friday was the second-most lopsided of the season for the Knicks, who routed the Brooklyn Nets 134-98 on Nov. 9.
Miles McBride scored 22 points off the bench and was 7-of-10 from 3-point land. Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and nine rebounds before exiting with 5:55 left in the third and the Knicks ahead 87-65.
Reserve Jordan Clarkson had 14 points while starters OG Anunoby (11) and Mikal Bridges (10) also got into double figures. Bridges had eight of his points during the game-opening run.
Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George had 18 points apiece before sitting out the fourth for the Jazz, whose two-game winning streak was snapped. Ace Bailey, the only Utah starter to see the floor in the final quarter, had 13 points while reserves Isaiah Collier (13), Walter Clayton Jr. (11) and Kyle Filipowski (10) all reached double figures.
The loss was also the second most-lopsided of the season for the Jazz, who fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves 137-97 on Nov. 7.
George’s old-fashioned three-point play ended the Knicks’ historic first-quarter run with 5:27 left. New York led 41-13 at the end of the first and led by 29 in the second before the Jazz closed within 68-47 at the half.
George opened the second half with a layup to cut the deficit to 19 before the Knicks pulled away. New York opened its first 30-point lead at 97-67 on Clarkson’s 3-pointer with 4:06 left and took its biggest lead at 115-74 on Mitchell Robinson’s tip-in with 30.5 seconds remaining in the third. Utah got no closer than 29 in the fourth.
