Jalen Brunson leads way, but entire Knicks team rallied past Pelicans
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) makes a head fake against New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears (0) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. Credit: AP/Peter Forest
NEW ORLEANS — There are going to be nights like this, games in the middle of a road trip when the Knicks are playing shorthanded and even the stars don’t seem able to prod the team to the finish line.
The Knicks have counted on and received contributions up and down the roster. And they needed every bit of those contributions to push past the New Orleans Pelicans, pulling ahead down the stretch and surviving for a 130-125 win at the Smoothie King Center.
It was Jalen Brunson who led the Knicks with 28 points and came up with a series of huge shots in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points in the final six minutes. It was Deuce McBride arriving from a long absence to help secure the win with 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, converting four free throws in the final 16 seconds. And it was even rookie Mo Diawara providing an early offensive boost.
“We find a way to win,” Brunson said. “I think we have a growing confidence as a team, not necessarily just in fourth quarters. We understand how we started was unacceptable. And we got to figure out how to win a game from where we were. So we got a lot of confidence in each other. But we got to start better. And we’ve got to play better honestly throughout the whole game. But we found a way to win."
The Knicks trailed by double-figures in the third quarter, but hung around with McBride draining a three to tie the score, and finally, with 7:41 to play, Karl-Anthony Towns gave the Knicks the lead with a second-chance three-point field goal.
The teams went back and forth and then when the Pelicans lost the ball out of bounds, a long delay ensued with a clock issue.That gave New Orleans time to see the replay and challenge the call, drawing the ire of Mike Brown and the Knicks coaching staff.
The review gave the ball back to New Orleans and Trey Murphy drained a long three for the lead. Brunson answered back immediately again and maybe it served as a wake-up call for the Knicks on a night that they needed one, struggling to push ahead of a team that brought an 8-25 record into the game.
The Knicks were taking turns, Brunson, McBride and OG Anunoby all hitting big shots, while the Knicks tried desperately to find a way to stop Zion Williamson’s bull rushes to the rim.
When Brunson gave the Knicks a three-point lead with a floater after an offensive rebound and feed by McBride, Williamson then drove to the rim and a foul was called on Anunoby as he stripped the ball. The Knicks challenged the call with 50.6 seconds left in the game, but lost and Williamson went to the line. He hit both free throws but again Brunson countered with a quick layup.
Williamson scored in the lane and the Knicks tried to run down the clock. McBride was fouled and went to the line with 16.1 seconds remaining. He made both and Jordan Poole missed badly on a three-point attempt. McBride was fouled again with 5.5 seconds remaining and he sank two more to secure the win.
“We’re really comfortable,” Mike Brown said. “I mean, at the end of the day it’s all of our standards. Sacrifice. When you play 12 guys and guys don’t care when they come in and out, you’ve seen that. People are sacrificing for their teammates. You play 12 guys and guys just keep plugging away, there’s a connectively. It doesn’t matter if we’re up 10, down 10, our guys just keep staying with it. That shows the competitive spirit. More importantly it’s the belief in the process.”
Earlier, it was an unlikely scoring outburst carrying the Knicks. Diawara, starting again for Josh Hart, scored the first five points of the game and by the time the first quarter was over he’d already piled up 13 points — eight more than his previous high of five. But that was nothing compared to what Saddiq Bey was doing, pouring in 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting (4-for-5 from three). Bay would score three points in the second quarter and the Knicks finally shut him down after that.
Most alarming was that the Pelicans, ranked 20th in the NBA in scoring entering the game, piled up 41 first-quarter points. The high-scoring first period failings by the defense has been a focus lately for the Knicks coaching staff, but on this night it was awful and didn’t get much better in the second quarter.
New Orleans took a 75-72 lead into the half, scoring 34 in the second period as it was Williamson, making his first start since returning from injury on Dec. 14 and serving as a bench piece for seven games. Williamson scored 15 second-quarter points. Anunoby countered with all 16 of his first half points in the period to keep the Knicks close.
Notes & quotes: McBride made his return to action after sitting out eight straight games (nine including the NBA Cup final) with a sprained left ankle . . . Mitchell Robinson was held out for left ankle load management.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
