FINAL: New York Knicks 135, Chicago Bulls 105
The New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls 135-105 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, November 4, tying the franchise record with 84 points in the first half as Jalen Brunson scored 22 of his 33 points in the first quarter, outscoring Chicago on his own. The full story of the record half itself is in iimiTV’s breaking report on the Knicks tying the record with an 84-point half.
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Thursday’s morning after gave the night its second story. The Knicks 84-point half now sits beside a set of streaks and details that settled overnight, a debut that grew in the telling, and a head coach who used a 30-point win to raise the standard rather than celebrate it. That, more than the scoreline, is what New York carries to Cleveland on Saturday.
How to watch: New York Knicks at Cleveland Cavaliers, Saturday, November 7, 8:00 p.m. ET at Rocket Arena
TV: MSG, NBA TV
Mike Brown Calls A Timeout In A Blowout
The clearest sign of the standard came with less than a minute left in the first quarter. New York led by more than 20, Brunson had just hit a stepback three for his 22nd point, and Chicago answered with an outlet pass and an easy layup while Brunson was still in the frontcourt. Mike Brown called timeout on the spot, up 21 with 30 seconds left in the quarter. Brown explained the stoppage after the game: “We hit a three, we celebrated the three, and they got a layup on the other end. That’s one of the little things that we talk about: embracing playing with next-play speed, playing the right way no matter what the score is. By not doing that, that’s how you build bad habits.”
Brown praised the record half in the same breath. “It was a really good half in terms of doing what we believe what we should be doing offensively as our staples,” Brown said, in comments reported by SNY. “Everyone was really good in those areas.” He added that this was New York’s best game for its pop and quickness from point A to point B, especially in the frontcourt. Brunson, for his part, kept his own night simple: “When you have it going, it feels good. Just trying to play off that and use your gravity to make plays.” The Knicks’ own account had marked the moment the record arrived, late in the second quarter:
84 POINTS IN THE FIRST HALF. THAT TIES A KNICKS FRANCHISE RECORD.
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) November 5, 2026
The Knicks’ official highlight reel isolates what that gravity looked like across Brunson’s 28 minutes, five three-pointers and no fourth quarter:
After The Knicks 84-Point Half, The Streaks Settled
Overnight, Karl-Anthony Towns’ quiet line took on its proper weight. Towns scored 17 points on five-for-five shooting with 12 rebounds in 25 minutes, and that made it eight straight double-doubles to open the season, the second-longest such streak by a Knick in franchise history. Knicks X-Factor put Towns in a four-man club for the feat, alongside Charles Oakley, Willis Reed and Walt Bellamy, who holds the record at 13. OG Anunoby’s 18 points also carried a personal mark settled in the numbers: a career-high 11 made free throws, with three steals, as he attacked closeouts instead of settling behind the line.
Dalton Knecht’s debut grew, too. The original report had his record-tying three and his 10 points. The full line, confirmed across the morning reports, was 10 points on four-for-six shooting, seven rebounds, a chase-down block and an assist in his first game as a Knick, starting with a putback dunk off a Landry Shamet miss a minute after he checked in. Knecht had been picked up two weeks earlier after the Lakers released him on October 19 and called up from Westchester, and he got this chance with Josh Hart out. Brown’s verdict was direct: “He’s a scorer, he’s not just a shooter. He can go get it.”
Chicago left with a record of its own, and it offered no comfort. All 15 Bulls players scored in the game, a first in franchise history, on a night when no Chicago starter took control and the team still lost by 30 for its sixth straight defeat. Depth without a lead scorer is not balance; against New York it was just a longer list of players who could not stop the first half.
What It Means Next For The Knicks At Cleveland
The test of whether this was a turning point comes quickly. New York goes for its first three-game winning streak of the season on Saturday night at Cleveland, with both teams at 4-4, at 8 p.m. ET on MSG and NBA TV. Cleveland is not Chicago: this is a road game against a fellow .500 team in the East, not a rebuilding side that has allowed at least 124 points in every game this season. If the pop and next-play speed Brown described travel to Rocket Arena, the record half starts to look like a reset for the title defence, which opened 0-3 and arrived on Wednesday ranked 21st in offensive rating. If they do not, Brown already warned on Tuesday that winning can create a false reality.
Hart remains the open question in the rotation. He missed Wednesday with right ankle soreness, his first absence of the season, after starting all seven games and averaging 8.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists. The Knicks announced no timetable for his return when he was ruled out, and Shamet, who started in his place and scored seven points in 24 minutes, stays the next man up if Hart cannot go in Cleveland. Knecht’s debut at least gives Brown one more scoring option off the bench than he had a week ago.
For now, the morning after leaves New York at .500, with a share of a record that stood for 38 years, a captain back in rhythm, a centre eight games into a double-double streak, and a coach publicly refusing to let a blowout lower the bar. Saturday in Cleveland will say whether the standard or the celebration travelled.
