THE Knicks went all the way with the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night, finally prevailing with a 130-125 victory.
Here are the points to remember…
— Making his second consecutive start and his third this season, Mohamed Diawara wasted no time getting into the action, backing off his defender and leaving one to score the game’s first points before scoring a three-pointer to give the Knicks an early 5-0 lead. The first five points already matched Diawara’s career high, but the Frenchman selected by New York in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft was far from finished.
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— After the Pelicans went on a quick 9-0 run to take the lead, Jalen Brunson stopped the bleeding with a three-point play before scoring his first three-pointer of the night to tie the game. Diawara, who entered the contest with six threes in 18 attempts this season, made his second of the match to regain the lead. Nearly two minutes later, he made another from downtown to give him 11 points in six minutes.
— An 8-0 led by New Orleans, including three Jordan Poole And Saddiq Beygave them a four-point advantage, but there was Diawara again, this time scoring on a Brunson-assisted running layup to bring the Knicks within two.
— In nine minutes, Diawara led New York with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting (3 of 3 from deep). He also pulled down a rebound and added two steals. However, he wasn’t the most impressive player on the court in the first quarter as Bey paced the Knicks with 23 points, going 8 of 11 from the field and 4 of 5 from three to help the Pelicans lead 41-37 after a whirlwind opening.
— Tyler Kolek entered the game for the first time to start the second quarter and immediately made his presence felt, making one of two free throws and then hitting a three for the Knicks’ first four points of the quarter.
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— Despite the help of OG Anunoby And Cities of Karl-Anthony offensively, New York failed to take the lead at the start of the quarter while Zion Williamsonmaking his first start after seven games coming off the bench, took over for a time, scoring 10 points before being replaced. He had 18 points at halftime.
– After almost two minutes without a score on both sides, the offense resumed thanks to Brunson who replaced and scored eight consecutive points for the Knicks. But it was Anunoby who tied it at 65 with a running layup before Poole’s three-pointer gave New Orleans the lead again. Anunoby scored 16 points in the quarter after being shut out in the first.
–In the final two minutes of the half, Diawara made another three-pointer, his fourth of the game on as many attempts, to give him 16 points, but even that wasn’t enough as the Pelicans led 75-72 at halftime.
— After the break, both offenses immediately got back to work, trading baskets left and right. Williamson maintained his pace for New Orleans and Trey Murphy made two three-pointers, the second of which gave the Pelicans a 10-point lead.
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— As for the Knicks offense, it was a team effort as they got at least one basket from every starter in the first six minutes, as well as a contribution from Kevin McCullar Jr. after his big night against the Atlanta Hawks. But after Anunoby made a three-pointer with 5:48 left in the quarter, both offenses went into a three-minute drought. It wasn’t until Poole’s layup, with 2:35 left, that a ball went into the net.
— From there, other New York bench players hit a few shots, including three by Guerschon Yabusélé And Jordan Clarkson and a float of Trey Jemison III. Seven players came off the bench for the Knicks, including Miles McBride who returned to the lineup after missing the last nine games with an ankle injury. McBride finished with 14 points in 18 minutes.
— Nevertheless, by the end of the quarter, New Orleans extended its lead to 103-96.
— New York’s defenseHe finally showed up in the fourth quarter by limiting the Pelicans to just three points in the first five minutes. Meanwhile, the Knicks tied it on McBride’s three-pointer and took the lead on Towns’ triple 20 seconds later — their first lead since the final minute of the first quarter.
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— After KAT’s three ball, New York went scoreless for two minutes, allowing New Orleans to regain the lead. But in critical moments, Brunson came alive and knocked down two threes to tie or take the lead and follow Murphy who remained on fire from the baseline. Brunson got some help with McBride and Anunoby each hitting big shots to take the lead as the Pelicans wouldn’t go away.
— But it was Brunson’s floater and layup in the final 60 seconds that extended his team’s lead before McBride hit four key free throws late in the game to seal the game and give New York a wild 130-125 victory.
Game MVP: OG Anunoby
Despite going 1 for 8 from deep, Anunoby finished with 23 points after going scoreless in the first quarter and hit big shot after big shot all game. He also had 11 rebounds, three steals and a block and was a game-high plus-16 on the night.
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Highlights
What’s next
The Knicks finish their three-game road trip with a battle against the San Antonio Spurs on New Year’s Eve at 7 p.m. in what will be a rematch of the NBA Cup Finals.
