Knicks earn biggest comeback win with overtime victory over the Heat
Anunoby and Brunson take over after intermission
The Knicks’ largest come-from-behind win coming into Sunday night was 14 points. They were down by 19 points and came back to claim a 116-112 overtime victory over the Heat in Miami. The Knicks are now 5-0 in overtime this season and are 40-20 overall.
Down 105-101 with 1:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, OG Anunoby scored on a tip to make it a two-point game. After a defensive stop, Jalen Brunson scored with 26 seconds remaining to tie it at 105-105. The Knicks made a defensive switch, taking out Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns to insert Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson. And again, they came up with a stop, getting the ball back with 3.5 seconds remaining. Bridges missed a corner three and the game went to overtime.
Brunson hit a three with 2:27 remaining to put the Knicks up by one. A layup by Josh Hart and single free throws by Anunoby and Brunson gave the Knicks a 114-109 lead with 42 seconds remaining.
Another defensive stop and it looked like the game was in the bag. But the Heat challenged the out of bounds call and the refs ended up calling a foul on Brunson. Ex-Knick Alec Burks hit a 3-pointer and it was a game once again.
But Anunoby dunked the ball with 17 seconds remaining for the game’s final points.
The Knicks fell behind early, as the Heat had a tremendous shooting night, hitting 65% of their shots in the first half. Towns badly outplayed Bam Adebayo in the first matchup this season and Adebayo came out determined to flip the script. He finished with 30 points, including the Heat’s first two buckets in overtime.
Tom Thibodeau moved Anunoby on to Adebayo and he was not a factor in the rest of overtime. Earlier, Anunoby did a fine job checking Tyler Herro, who had stretches where he could not miss. Herro had 22 points but was just 8-24 from the floor.
Brunson and Anunoby each had just five points at the half. Yet Brunson finished with a game-high 31 points. And Anunoby stuffed the stat sheet, with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks.
Towns finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds, while Hart had 14 points and seven rebounds.
It was the third straight win for the Knicks, who are 8-3 in their last 11 games. Next up is a home game against the Warriors Tuesday night.