CHICAGO (AP) — Julius Randle scored 31 points and Jalen Brunson added a season-high 30, including a 3-pointer with less than a minute left in overtime, and the New York Knicks won their fifth straight, 128-120 over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
Randle missed a chance to win the game in regulation when his step-back shot from the baseline resulted in an air ball and shot-clock violation with 0.7 seconds left.
But Quentin Grimes and Brunson each nailed 3-pointers with less than a minute left in OT to give the Knicks a nine-point lead.
“We had very good rhythm, made 3s and rebounded well,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said.
DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points and Zach LaVine had 25 for the Bulls, who fell in overtime for the second consecutive game.
Randle had 30 points or more for the third time in his last four games and sixth time this season.
“We did a great job of getting timely stops and rebounds when we needed to, and guys hit timely shots,” Randle said.
The Knicks, who entered shooting an NBA-worst 31% from 3-point range, converted 18 of 34 attempts from behind the arc. R.J. Barrett scored 22 points before fouling out with 47 seconds left in regulation.
LaVine made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 107-all with 4:33 left. But Grimes nailed a 3, Barrett blocked a shot, and Mitchell Robinson scored on a putback that extended New York’s lead to five.
DeRozan’s layup with 24.7 seconds left made it 117-all.
Chicago trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half and didn’t take its first lead until Nikola Vucevic converted a layup and dunk to cap a 10-0 run with 4:16 left in the third quarter.
Brunson showed no effects from a right foot bruise as he sliced the Bulls’ defense for 10 second-quarter points.
The Bulls’ lack of depth at point guard resulted in LaVine, backup forward Javonte Green and reserve guard Goran Dragic sharing the ballhandling duties.
“Just because you lose it doesn’t pay off,” Bulls forward Patrick Williams said of Chicago’s recent close losses. “You got to make them pay.”
TIP-INS
Knicks: Derrick Rose, the 2010-11 MVP while with the Bulls, has adjusted well despite falling out of the rotation. “I can’t complain if we’re winning,” said Rose, a Chicago native. Thibodeau has been pleased with Rose’s leadership, especially his mentoring of guards Brunson and Miles McBride.
Bulls: G Ayo Dosunmu was sidelined with an abdominal bruise, and coach Billy Donovan was unsure how soon he would return. “I don’t think it’s severe,” Donovan said. “I think it’s just a matter of how well he can move and what kind of discomfort he has while he’s playing.” Dosunmu suffered the injury in Sunday’s loss at Atlanta.
UP NEXT
The teams meet in Chicago again on Friday night.
