Daily Report – 1/8/26
Knicks
Abracadabra! The Knicks snapped their four-game losing streak last night, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 123-111 at Madison Square Garden.
Karl-Anthony Towns was the key to the Knicks’ success. When they were losing, Towns was struggling. Last night, for the first time in many games, Kitten Towns played like a Lion.
For the Knicks to make their championship expectations a reality, Towns must become an integral part of their offensive scheme. If last night’s game revealed anything other than that, consider that when Towns starts to score, his defensive issues solve themselves.
Towns thrived in the paint all night, driving to the basket and picking through lanes left and right. He scored 20 points, which tied the second-most by any Knick, by going 8-for-10 from the stripe. He added a team-high seven assists and 11 rebounds. He only turned the ball over twice, and he wasn’t called for a personal foul until the fourth quarter.
“I don’t think we were at our best, but we did enough to win,” said Towns, who scored half of his points during the final frame. “At points in the game, we did a great job of getting a run, and we didn’t let them stop the bleeding. We’ve got to be better than we were tonight. I’ve got to be better than I was tonight, but this is a good start before getting on the road trip to stop the bleeding of four losses in a row and finally feel good about one in the left column.”
They say winning cures everything, and there’s no doubt the Knicks needed something to feel good about before embarking on their four-game West Coast road trip, beginning tomorrow. Jalen Brunson, who scored a team-leading 26 points yesterday, understands that.
“For the most part, we played a little desperate tonight,” the Knicks captain remarked. “We needed a win. The way we competed, the way we played, even though we were down in the first half, it was Knicks basketball.”
The Knicks will head to Phoenix and Portland before playing a mid-week back-to-back in Sacramento and San Francisco.
At first, it felt like the Knicks were headed toward another loss. After complaining about foul calls and trading buckets with the likes of James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubac, the Knicks found themselves trailing by two points in the waning minutes of the third quarter. Then, Jordan Clarkson drove to the bucket to tie the score, which sparked a 20-5 run that carried into the fourth quarter.
“When you go through what we’ve gone through, nobody wants to lose,” said head coach Mike Brown. “But it helps us be better. It helps me be better. Our group embraced it.”
Midway through the final frame, Brunson nailed a three-point shot to put the Knicks ahead by 15 points. That lead, the Knicks’ biggest of the night, was a testament to the commitment with which they dictated pace in the fourth quarter. They outscored Los Angeles 33-24 in the final frame, and in addition to Towns’s 10 points, Brunson, Guerschon Yabusele, and OG Anunoby each netted five.
Anunoby finished the night with 20 points, and Mikal Bridges scored 15, along with five assists and nine rebounds, in his best performance in weeks. Additionally, Miles McBride netted four three-pointers, and off the bench, Mitchell Robinson recorded nine rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. It took a full-team effort for the Knicks to defeat Los Angeles, who had won seven of their previous eight games before yesterday, despite leaving MSG with a 13-23 record.
Schedule
7:00 PM: NYR vs. BUF; MSG, Gotham Sports
7:30 PM: 2025-26 College Football Playoff (CFP), First Semifinal – Vrbo Fiesta Bowl – Miami (10) vs. Ole Miss (6); ESPN, ESPN App
