Jalen Brunson scores 38 as Knicks rally past Bulls 133-127

Jalen Brunson scored 38 points, and the New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls 133-127 at the United Center on Wednesday night. New York outscored Chicago 43-31 in the fourth quarter. Brunson made 13 of 25 shots, six of his 10 three-pointers and seven assists.

Chicago leads by 19

The Bulls had the better of the first half. They led 62-56 at the break after a second quarter in which they scored 29 to New York's 22.

Their biggest lead came in the third quarter. With 4:57 left in the period, Chicago led 87-68. Norman Powell was the reason. He finished with 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting and 4-of-9 from three.

New York's 11 unanswered points

The Knicks started to cut into the lead with the final four minutes of the third quarter. Between 4:10 and 1:41 they scored 11 unanswered points, and the margin fell to 10 at 82-92. New York finished the quarter with 34 points to Chicago's 34, which left the Bulls ahead 96-90 going into the fourth.

Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby did much of the work on that run. Towns had 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists for a double-double. Anunoby scored 23 and made seven of his eight free throws.

The fourth quarter

The game was tied at 104-104 with 8:34 to play, the closest the teams came in the second half. Over the whole game the lead changed hands 18 times, and the score was tied 38 times.

With 1:39 left, Brunson hit a 25-foot three-pointer that made it 130-122. Chicago answered. Matas Buzelis made two free throws, and Jalen Smith hit a three-pointer with 46 seconds left that cut the margin to 130-127. Smith finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Brunson then made one of two free throws with 6.2 seconds left, and New York led 131-127. Anunoby made both of his free throws with 1.7 seconds left, and the final score was 133-127.

Bench and rebounds

Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points in 17 minutes off the bench, making seven of his 11 shots. Landry Shamet scored 14 with five assists. Tyler Kolek had nine points and nine assists in 18 minutes.

For Chicago, Josh Giddey had 10 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists. Caleb Wilson scored 20, and Tre Jones added 11.

New York won the rebounding 50-39. Both teams had 32 assists and 12 turnovers. The Knicks shot 47 of 105 from the field, which is 44.8 percent. Chicago shot 44 of 91, which is 48.4 percent. The Bulls made 18 of 42 threes. New York made 22 of 48.

The crowd at the United Center was 20,596.

Scoring

New York 133: Jalen Brunson 38, OG Anunoby 23, Karl-Anthony Towns 19, Jordan Clarkson 18, Landry Shamet 14, Tyler Kolek 9, Andre Drummond 4, Mikal Bridges 3, Miles McBride 3, Josh Hart 2.

Chicago 127: Norman Powell 30, Caleb Wilson 20, Jalen Smith 17, Matas Buzelis 17, Tre Jones 11, Josh Giddey 10, Leonard Miller 10, Isaac Okoro 7, Noa Essengue 3, Buddy Hield 2.

Quarters: New York 34, 22, 34, 43 (133). Chicago 33, 29, 34, 31 (127).

Update: the 76ers beat the Knicks 98-93 in Philadelphia on Friday.

What is next

The Knicks host the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, Nov. 2, with the game listed for 8:30 p.m. ET. The Bulls visit the Philadelphia 76ers the same night.