Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns each posted double-doubles Wednesday night for the New York Knicks, who remained perfect at home this season by pulling away from the Minnesota Timberwolves for a 137-114 victory.
Brunson (23 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds) flirted with his first career triple-double. He had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists in the third quarter, when the Knicks outscored the Timberwolves 40-28 to turn a four-point halftime deficit into a 94-86 lead.
Towns finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds in his seventh double-double in eight games this season for the Knicks, who have won the first three games of a seven-game homestand and are 5-0 overall at Madison Square Garden.
OG Anunoby scored a team-high 25 points and added eight rebounds while Josh Hart (18 points) and Miles McBride (14 points) each got into double figures off the bench. Mikal Bridges had 13 points while fellow starter Mitchell Robinson had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Julius Randle scored 32 points for the Timberwolves, whose two-game winning streak ended. Donte DiVincenzo had 21 points while going 5 of 11 from 3-point land. Anthony Edwards, who returned after missing four games with a strained right hamstring, scored 15 points while Jaden McDaniels added 13.
The Knicks are 2-1 against the Timberwolves since the blockbuster trade between the teams Oct. 2, 2004, when New York sent Randle and DiVincenzo to Minnesota in exchange for Towns.
Randle scored six points via a pair of 3-pointers during a game-opening 13-4 run before the Knicks responded with a 42-24 run over the next 13-plus minutes to take a 46-37 lead.
DiVincenzo drained two 3-pointers during a subsequent 14-0 run by the Timberwolves, who then allowed New York to score eight of the next 11 points before Randle scored the final four points of the half to put Minnesota up 58-54.
The teams combined for three lead changes in the first four-plus minutes of the third, Brunson’s 19-footer with 7:16 putting the Knicks ahead for good at 68-67 and sparking the decisive quarter-ending 28-19 run. New York went ahead by double digits for the first time at 80-70 on McBride’s putback with 4:20 left and led 94-86 at the end of the period.
The Timberwolves cut the deficit to single digits just once in the fourth.
