NBA: Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks hold off Bulls

Karl-Anthony Towns scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Jalen Brunson added 19 points and nine assists to lead the visiting New York Knicks to a 105-99 victory over the struggling Chicago Bulls on Sunday night.

The Bulls extended their losing streak to nine games, their longest skid since a 10-game stretch in the 2018-19 season. Sunday’s narrow defeat marked the closest margin during the current slide.

Matas Buzelis paced Chicago with 15 points, and Guerschon Yabusele posted a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Collin Sexton and Buzelis hit 3-pointers to cap an 8-0 run that put the Bulls ahead 95-94 with 3:42 remaining. However, the Knicks responded with an 11-4 run to close out the game, with Towns scoring six of those points. Towns has now scored at least 20 points in five straight games.

New York gained a 60-59 lead on a Mikal Bridges 3-pointer with 10:03 left in the third quarter, sparking a 13-2 Knicks run. Brunson contributed seven points during the stretch, while Bridges added five.

Both teams were playing the second leg of a back-to-back. Similar to Saturday’s home loss against the Detroit Pistons, when they trailed by just three at halftime, the Bulls faltered in the third quarter. The Knicks outscored Chicago 31-25 in the frame while forcing seven turnovers, compared to just six giveaways by the Bulls in the first half.

Landry Shamet (16 points), Josh Hart (11), and Bridges (11) also scored in double figures for New York. For the Bulls, Isaac Okoro and Jalen Smith had 12 points each, while Patrick Williams added 10 points and eight assists.

Chicago led by as many as eight points in the first half and held a 53-52 advantage at the break. Okoro, Smith, and Yabusele combined for 27 first-half points and six of the Bulls’ nine 3-pointers before intermission, while Towns led all scorers with 17 points for the Knicks.

With the win, New York secured at least a split of the four-game season series against Chicago, preventing the Bulls from claiming consecutive season series for the first time since 2013. The two teams will meet again in the regular season finale on April 3, this time in New York.

—Field Level Media/Reuters