Knicks Dial Long Distance, Bomb Bulls 120-112

The New York Knicks, by and large courtesy of coach Mike D’Antoni, are a team that at times resembles some of the Western Conference teams on offense.

That usually goes against the grain in the NBA because usually teams in the Eastern Conference are more defensive-minded than their Western Conference counterparts, with very few exceptions.

The Knicks took on the Chicago Bulls Thursday night and it was the night of the three-point shot.

Call it tunnelvision or simply being in the zone, but the Knicks connected on 16 treys out of 24 attempts (66.7%) while making half of their shots overall. Granted, the Bulls didn’t shoot poorly (they shot nearly 52 percent and 47.4% from beyond the arc).

Nevertheless, New York got hot early in building an 18-point halftime lead and managing to hold off Chicago 120-112 at the United Center.

As previously noted, the Knicks built an 18-point advantage going into halftime. But the Bulls chipped away at New York’s lead and entered the fourth quarter down by just 93-83.

Chicago was down by 17 until they made a run late in the third quarter and were within 95-87 after a 3-pointer by Kyle Korver in the fourth quarter.

The Knicks responded by scoring 10 straight points, capped by a Ronny Turiaf 3-point play on a dunk with 9:31 left in the game. Curiously, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau sent Rose and Deng to the bench, joining Joakim Noah. Thibodeau opted to use a group of five that did indeed chip away at New York’s lead, but would ultimately come up short.

Toney Douglas came off the bench to lead all Knicks scorers with a career-high 30 points (including 5 three-pointers) with a rebound, 4 assists and 4 steals while Danilo Gallinari added 24 (including 4 treys) with 6 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and a block. Raymond Felton chipped in 20 (including 4 three-pointers) with 5 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 steals.

The Bulls were led by Derrick Rose with 24 points, a rebound, 14 assists and a steal while Taj Gibson and Korver added 18 apiece – with Gibson grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out 2 assists along with a steal and a pair of blocks while Korver drained four three-pointers, grabbed 2 rebounds and dished out 2 assists. Luol Deng poured in 17 (including three treys) with 4 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.

New York (2-2) plays again on Friday night when they host the Washington Wizards while Chicago (2-2) makes the short trip east to Boston to take on the Celtics – also on Friday night.

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