Jalen Brunson scored 45 points and the New York Knicks earned a 105-93 victory over the host Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.
Brunson finished 14 of 30 from the field and 15 of 17 from the free throw line while posting the 10th regular-season 40-point outing of his career. He fell five points short of a career-high 50 points he scored against the Phoenix Suns on December 15.
OG Anunoby added 12 points and nine rebounds and Donte DiVincenzo also scored 12 for New York, which won for the third time in the last four games.
Deandre Ayton recorded 31 points and 14 rebounds for his seventh straight double-double for the Trail Blazers, who went 2-4 over a six-game homestand.
Dalano Banton added 16 points and four steals and Scoot Henderson had 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists for Portland. Kris Murray added 10 points.
Portland played without Anfernee Simons (knee) and Jerami Grant (hamstring).
The Knicks had held their three previous opponents under 80 points, the first time the franchise had done so since November 2000.
New York shot 43.7 percent, but was just 6 of 29 from 3-point range while winning in the first game of a four-game road trip.
The Trail Blazers made 40.5 percent of their attempts and were 11 of 33 from behind the arc.
The Knicks led by 14 at halftime and increased the lead to 66-48 on DiVincenzo’s layup with 7:05 left in the third quarter.
The lead was 18 again when Anunoby stole the ball from Ayton and made a dunk to make it 79-61 with 3:12 left. Brunson made two free throws 45 seconds later as New York’s lead reached 20 for the first time.
The Knicks led 85-68 heading into the final stanza.
Ayton’s three-point play capped a 10-0 run as Portland pulled within 85-75 with 10:16 remaining.
New York regained control with an 8-2 run. Josh Hart’s layup capped the scoring and made it 93-77 with 8:36 left.
Brunson made a 3-pointer with 6:28 left to reach 40 points and extend the lead to 18 en route to New York to close out the game.
Brunson scored 21 points in the first half as the Knicks led 55-41 at the break.
