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, 2026, tying the franchise record with 84 points in the first half. Jalen Brunson scored 22 of his 33 points in the first quarter, outscoring the entire Chicago team by himself in the opening 12 minutes, and New York led 84-52 at half-time in a game that was decided before the break.
Join The iimiTV Letter
Enter your email and we will send you a confirmation link. Click it and your first edition lands on Friday.
How to watch: New York Knicks vs Chicago Bulls, Wednesday, November 4, 7:30 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden
TV (Canada): NBA League Pass
Stream: NBA League Pass outside the local markets; MSG in the New York market, CHSN in the Chicago market
Radio: 104.3 The Score (Chicago)
Brunson Outscores The Bulls In The First Quarter
The game was a contest for only a few minutes. Chicago led 6-4 early, New York answered with an 8-0 run, and the Knicks never trailed again. Brunson closed the first quarter with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, while the Bulls managed 21 points as a team. The quarter ended 43-21, and the tone of the night was set: the captain was scoring at will, and Chicago had no answer at either end.
The first quarter also carried a record of its own. It was Brunson’s 11th quarter of at least 20 points as a Knick, the most by any New York player since quarter tracking began in 1996-97. He finished with 33 points in 28 minutes on 10-of-17 shooting, with five three-pointers, four assists and two rebounds, and New York outscored Chicago by 33 points during his time on the floor. He needed no fourth quarter at all.
Knicks Tie The Franchise Record With An 84-Point First Half
New York kept pouring it on in the second quarter, winning it 41-31. The 43 points in the first quarter and 41 in the second made this the first game in Knicks history with 40 or more points in each of the first two quarters. The Knicks shot 63 percent from the field in the half and 50 percent from three-point range, and the record arrived on the half’s final shot: Dalton Knecht, playing his first game as a Knick, hit the three-pointer that brought New York to 84.
That number tied the franchise record for points in a first half. The mark was set on November 18, 1988, in a 137-135 loss at Philadelphia, and it had stood unmatched for 38 years, through every era of Knicks basketball since. Brunson reached the break with 26 points and OG Anunoby had 18, many of them at the free-throw line, as New York took a 32-point lead into the locker room. Knecht finished his debut with 10 points, matching Jordan Clarkson’s 10 off the bench.
A Title Defence Finds Its Rhythm
The outburst matters because of where it came from. The reigning champions opened the season 0-3 and arrived on Wednesday ranked 21st in the NBA in offensive rating, a scoring rut unbecoming of a title defence. They have now won four of five to reach 4-4, and this was the clearest sign yet that the offence has caught up. Karl-Anthony Towns added 17 points and 12 rebounds, Anunoby finished with 18 points, three steals and 11 made free throws, and New York shot 50.6 percent for the game while going 30-for-37 at the line.
Josh Hart, who sat out the win with ankle soreness and was replaced in the lineup by Landry Shamet, had explained the slow start in terms of the short summer that follows a championship run. “I think it’s a tough spot. It’s kinda like a little conundrum because obviously we played into mid-June,” Hart said, in comments reported by the New York Post. “So, sometimes the body has to kinda catch up.” On Wednesday, the body looked fully caught up.
The Bulls Slide Reaches Six Straight Losses
For Chicago, the numbers describe a defence in free fall. The Bulls have lost six straight games and sit at 1-7, and every opponent they have faced this season has scored at least 124 points. They missed 20 consecutive three-pointers during the first-half collapse, shot 38.5 percent for the game, and never got closer than 30 points in the second half after New York’s lead peaked at 44 points, 111-67, on a Miles McBride four-point play late in the third quarter. The Knicks starters sat out the entire fourth quarter.
Tre Jones led Chicago with 14 points. Matas Buzelis and Norman Powell scored 12 each, Jaylin Sellers added 11 and Josh Giddey scored 10. It was the second meeting between the teams in a week, and the opposite script from the first: on October 28 in Chicago, the Bulls led by 19 in the third quarter before Brunson scored 38 and the Knicks rallied to win 133-127. This time there was no deficit to erase and no rally available, because the record half had already ended the game.
The Knicks visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, and the Bulls host the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. Chicago gets three days to find a defence. New York, meanwhile, now owns a share of a record that survived 38 years, set by its captain’s 22-point quarter and finished by a debutant’s last shot of the half, and the title defence has its loudest win of the season.
