New York Knicks @ Washington Wizards
Saturday, January 6, 2024 at 7:00 PM ET
Capital One Arena, Washington, DC | Game ID: 22300494
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
WAS 19 24 32 30 105NYK 34 29 28 30 121
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Randle scores 39 points, Brunson has 33 to lead Knicks to 4th straight win, 121-105 over Wizards
WASHINGTON -- — Julius Randle scored 39 points, Jalen Brunson had 33 and the New York Knicks won their fourth straight game, beating the Washington Wizards 121-105 on Saturday night.
Coming off an impressive 128-92 win at Philadelphia on Friday night, the Knicks (21-15) led throughout and had a 60-34 lead late in the first half, causing the thousands of New York fans in Washington to loudly chant: “Let’s go Knicks! Let’s go Knicks!”
“It was important to come out with energy, especially on a back-to-back,” Brunson said. “It’s fun whenever you’re winning..”
Brunson and Randle obviously enjoy playing with each other.
“Collectively, we both have the same mindset,” Brunson said. “As long as we’re winning, we can get better the next day and keep going from there.”
Randle’s 39 points were two off his season high. Isaiah Hartenstein had 19 rebounds for the Knicks.
“It was just not the pace. It was the all-around play,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Just being ready to play, playing with a lead, good defensive activity.”
New York is 14-1 against teams that currently have losing records.
“Don’t play with your food,” Randle said. “Take care of what you’re supposed to take care of and just keep improving. The basketball gods got a funny way of rewarding you or humbling you. We just try to approach every game the right way.”
Kyle Kuzma scored 27 points but the Wizards lost their fourth straight. Deni Avdija had 23.
The Wizards committed 20 turnovers, two off their season high, and the Knicks scored 23 points off them.
“We knew going in that they’re a very aggressive, a very physical team,” Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “I don’t think we came out anticipating that amount of force.”
The Wizards (6-29) began the second half strong and cut the lead to 74-69 with 5:23 to play in the third quarter as Avdija and Kuzma combined for 19 points.
“They were just playing zone, trying to junk the game up, trying to slow us down,” Randle said. “We weren’t executing.”
Thibodeau called three timeouts in the third quarter and lambasted his team when Washington cut the lead to five.
“I can’t repeat it. I can’t,” Brunson said when asked what Thibodeau told the team. “Basically, be better.”
New York outscored the Wizards 17-6 to close out the third, with Randle scoring eight points.
“There’s going to be runs in the game,” Thibodeau said. “They started the third on a run. Now that we gave them hope that they could get back into the game, which they did. I knew they play hard.”
The Wizards returned home after two losses at Cleveland by a combined 63 points on Wednesday and Friday.
WAS KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
NYKDD D. DiVincenzo
IH I. Hartenstein
JB J. Brunson
JH J. Hart
JR J. Randle
MF M. Flynn
MM M. McBride
OA O. Anunoby
PA P. Achiuwa
QG Q. Grimes
WASAG A. Gill
BC B. Coulibaly
CK C. Kispert
DA D. Avdija
DG D. Gafford
DW D. Wright
EO E. Omoruyi
JB J. Butler
JD J. Davis
JP J. Poole
KK K. Kuzma
MM M. Muscala
TJ T. Jones
NYK/WAS the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur