Knicks remain undefeated in preseason play after 100-95 OT win over Timberwolves

The Knicks extended their preseason record to 3-0, beating the Timberwolves in their first game at MSG this season, 100-95, in overtime. Mikal Bridges led the way with 15 points on 3-for-7 shooting from three, followed by 11 points from Jalen Brunson.

New York was without Josh Hart, but Karl-Anthony Towns picked up the slack with a double-double in 26 minutes while Miles McBride and Jordan Clarkson each added 10 off the bench. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 17 points while former Knick Julius Randle notched 16.

Here are the takeaways…

-Despite being a man down, the Knicks set a competitive tone using the same starters from the last contest, going on a 7-2 run off of strong team defense. The Timberwolves quickly met their intensity, responding with a 7-0 run of their own.

Towns was active early with two aggressive drives leading to scores, including an acrobatic lefty and one, as he had five points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in the opening period. On the other end, it was Minnesota’s stars Randle and Edwards leading the way with nine and eight, respectively, as their Wolves led 21-20 after one, capitalizing on the Knicks' shooting just 2 of 14 from three.

-The first half likely looked close to what we’ll see from the Knicks' final rotation, as we saw them play nine guys and decent starter minutes. However, there was still experimentation going on with a different starting and closing unit, plus the three-guard bench had Landry Shamet featured over Malcolm Brogdon. Dillingham was a big spark off the bench for Minny with seven quick points in the second period, but New York kept their deficit within single digits. Even a late first-half spark from Brunson to give him a team-leading 11 points at the half failed to bridge the gap, though, as Minny led 44-38 at halftime behind 14 points from Edwards.

-Head coach Mike Brown opened the second half with Guerschon Yabusele in as the “fifth” starter, then subbed him for Shamet, after opening with Robinson and trying out McBride to finish the first. Fans have been watching this storyline closely throughout the preseason, but expect to continue seeing variations of the looks around the core four well into the regular season.

Nothing he threw out made meaningful headway against the Timberwolves while the Knicks bricked away from three, as they started 4-for-30 from deep on this night. The silver lining was that they created tons of good looks that simply didn’t go down, and their defense fared well.

Late in the third, things shifted as Bridges hit a couple and OG Anunoby drilled one facing up in Rudy Gobert’s eye. The Knicks took advantage of some offensive rebounding without Robinson on the floor, then doubled down with a super small lineup of Yabusele at the five.

But Minnesota closed the third strong, featuring an inside hook and buzzer-beating corner three from the 2024 Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid, going into the final frame up 71-63.

-The fourth quarter began with a bench unit of Brogdon, McBride, Clarkson, Pacome Dadiet, and Ariel Hukporti that kicked off a massive 19-9 run to give the Knicks an 82-80 lead, their first since the opening period. McBride was the big offensive boost, hitting a flurry of jumpers, while the rest each chipped in to the effort.

Midway through the period, the Knicks went deeper into their bench as the Timberwolves also cleared the pine to close the game. Down two with 10 seconds left, Minny’s Johnny Juzang drove for a running right hook to tie the game.

The Knicks declined to call timeout, running it up to Garrison Mathews, who got a clean look from the top of the break but couldn’t pull off the game-winner.

-New York ran with Kolek, Mathews, Dadiet, Tosan Evbuomwan and Hukporti for the extra minutes. Their defense sparked an 8-0 run with some solid teamwork and execution on the other end and coasted from there.