PHOENIX — Jalen Brunson couldn’t save the reeling Knicks.
In fact, Captain Clutch faltered when it mattered most.
Trying to drag his struggling squad to a road win, Brunson shot just 1-for-6 in the fourth quarter with two turnovers, both in the final 95 seconds of a 112-107 defeat to the Suns.
With James Dolan flying to Phoenix and sitting baseline, the Knicks devolved into a sloppy mess with 18 team turnovers and another dud from Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored just 15 points in 33 minutes.
Dolan’s squad (24-14) lost for the fifth time in the last six games, a stretch defined by poor play on both sides of the ball.
The owner’s presence feels more consequential in the wake of his WFAN interview Monday, when the owner set the bar at Finals or failure.
He rarely attends road games, and it’s unclear why Dolan showed up in Phoenix, but it’s worth noting that his entertainment venue — The Sphere — is close by in Vegas.
“We want to get to the Finals. And we should win the Finals,” Dolan said this week. “This is sports and anything can happen. But getting to the Finals, we absolutely got to do.”
They haven’t looked the part lately. And certainly not in Phoenix. Leading by two with 4:11 remaining, the Knicks went about four minutes with just two points.
Overall, they shot 32 percent with six turnovers in the fourth quarter.
OG Anunoby ensured defeat by missing two of three free throws with 2.2 seconds left.
The end of the fourth was one turning point, and the most important.
Another was midway through the third quarter, and with the Suns up by four, Dillon Brooks, who was running amok on New York’s defense, exploded toward the rim with a drive and jump.
Brunson stepped up. Drew the charge.
On the next possession, Brooks, a tall and tormenting defender, glued himself to Brunson, and it didn’t matter. Brunson crossed up Brooks, stepped back and buried a trey.
Twenty seconds later, Brunson hit two free throws, then another 3-pointer. Suddenly, the Knicks — who trailed by as many as 11 in the opening quarter — were up, 80-78.
It looked good for the visitors. Then it didn’t.
The Suns immediately responded with a 14-0 run, a stretch defined by New York turnovers and softness. The Suns turned up the physicality and the Knicks looked to the refs for help that never arrived.
So they entered the fourth quarter with an eight-point deficit, and they couldn’t summon another clutch victory.
The Suns (23-15) were supposed to dissolve into a rebuild after trading Kevin Durant, but they’ve been much better than anticipated behind inspired play from newcomer Dillon Brooks and restored excellence from Devin Booker.
The fiery guard, acquired from Houston for Durant, has been a revelation offensively this season and dropped 20 of his 27 points Monday in the first half. Booker added 31 points and eight assists.
“They’ve been playing good basketball,” Knicks coach Mike Brown. “They have some veteran guys that have been through the fire, you have a guy in Dillon Brooks who has shown that he can obviously defend and bring an edge to this basketball team and get it done on the offensive end of the floor.
“Book is an All-Star obviously player. They get out and run, crash the glass. They do a pretty good job defensively overall, trying to put pressure on you. They’ll pick up full court. There are a lot of things we’re going to have to make sure we maintain or follow our principles on tonight. They can attack in a lot of different ways.”
The Knicks, meanwhile, were regrouping. Brown held a practice Tuesday in their facility — their first practice at home in weeks — and tweaked his schemes.
“I’ve got to keep trying to find ways to help them. So on both ends of the floor I’ve got to continue to do that even now. That’s what my job is,” Brown said. “We made some changes on both sides of the ball. We’ll see how effective it is and see if it can help us combat that — quote unquote — problems that we may be having technically at times on both sides of the ball.”
It didn’t help Friday.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
