The China Mail - Brunson's 55 points propel Knicks to overtime win over Wizards

Brunsn scored 42 of his points in the second half and overtime to help the Knicks fend off the lowly Wizards for a seventh straight NBA victory.

It was his third 50-point game as a Knick, and New York needed all of his output against a Washington team playing without Kyle Kuzma and their leading scorer Jordan Poole.

Justin Champagnie put up a career-high 31 points for the Wizards, who led by as many as 11 in the third quarter and took an eight point lead into the fourth.

They pushed their lead to 100-90 early in the final period and after a pair of lead changes the Wizards were up 119-114 with 1:07 remaining.

Brunson converted a three-point play then tied it at 119-119 with another driving basket and they went to overtime, where Brunson and Josh Hart each drilled a pair of clutch free-throws to close it out.

"We were a step behind until the fourth," Brunson said. "(We) found a way to turn it up and came out with the win."

Brunson connected on 18 of 31 shots from the floor and made three of the Knicks' 10 three-pointers.

"I read the game, and then I find a way to impact it," he said. "Tonight it was scoring."

He was particularly pleased to hit 16 of his 17 free-throws -- including making five of six from the line in overtime.

"It's great, knowing I haven't made a bunch of free throws this year, I've been terrible. But I made it when it was needed," Brunson said.

Elsewhere in the league, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 points and Jalen Williams added 20 for the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder in a comfortable 106-94 victory over the Hornets in Charlotte.

It was a 10th straight regular-season win for the Thunder -- a run broken up by a loss to Milwaukee in the NBA Cup final which didn't count toward the season schedule.

The Thunder led all the way against the injury-ridden Hornets, notching a total of 29 assists in a well-rounded offensive display.

Aaron Wiggins, starting in place of injured Luguentz Dort, scored 17 points for the Thunder, who improved to 25-5.

In Chicago, Josh Giddey scored 23 points with 15 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Bulls in a 116-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, who were without ailing star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Nikola Vucevic added 23 points and 13 rebounds and Coby White chipped in 22 points for the Bulls.

Damian Lillard, who like Antetokounmpo had been listed as questionable for the game because of illness, scored 29 points and handed out 11 assists for the Bucks.

B.Chan--ThChM