Like Santa Claus in the early stages of Monday morning, the New York Knicks used reindeer to bring about holiday joy in the afternoon. Jalen Brunson joined Knicks royalty with a dominant Christmas Day performance that yielded a 129-122 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden. With 38 points, Brunson put forth the third-best point total in the Knicks’ Yuletide history, bested only by Bernard King (60, 1984) and Richie Guerin (40, 1961). Such an outing afforded the Knicks their 24th win in 56 Christmas appearances, tying the Los Angeles Lakers for the most holiday victories in NBA history.
New York (17-12) also ended several dubious streaks: they ended a nine-game losing streak to the Bucks and also won a game against an NBA conference leader for the first time this season, having gone winless against seven prior games against Milwaukee, Boston, and Minnesota. The Knicks (17-12) also ended the NBA’s longest active winning streak, as the Bucks had entered Monday’s game as winners of their past seven, including a 19-point triumph in Manhattan on Saturday.
Brunson was far from the only one lighting up the Christmas statsheet, as the Knicks also enjoyed 20-point outings from Julius Randle (24 with nine rebounds), RJ Barrett (21, six rebounds), and Immanuel Quickley (20 points on 7-of-10 from the field).
The Knicks immediately have another opportunity to impress, as they’ll hit the road for a three-game road trip to close out the calendar year, beginning with Monday’s visit to current Western Conference runner-up Oklahoma City (8 p.m. ET, MSG).
