Knicks Beat Bulls For Second Night In A Row
NEW YORK (AP) -- Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points, Kristaps Porzingis had 19 and the New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls, 106-94, on Thursday night to sweep the home-and-home series.
Derrick Williams added 13 points, Jose Calderon 12, and Arron Afflalo 11 for New York. The Knicks beat the Bulls 115-107 on Wednesday night in Chicago.
Derrick Rose led Chicago with 30 points. Jimmy Butler had 19, and Taj Gibson 10.
Fighting for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls led only one time in the game -- at 8-7 on Gibson's short jumper. Chicago is 1 1/2 games behind Detroit for the eighth playoff spot.
The Knicks then used an 18-8 run to take their biggest lead of the opening quarter, 25-16 on Sasha Vujacic's 3-pointer with 4:07 remaining. The Bulls scored the next six points and the Knicks led 31-27 entering the second quarter.
Anthony scored 10 points, and Vujacic had all of his nine in the period.
The Knicks opened up another nine-point lead, 36-27, on Afflalo's short jumper with 9:51 left in the second quarter. Again the Bulls responded by scoring the next six points.
But, the Knicks then used a 9-3 run to again open a nine-point lead, 45-36, on Calderon's 3-pointer with 4:43 left in the first half.
The Bulls cut it to 47-45 on Gibson's layup with 2:34 remaining, but Porzingis followed with back-to-back 3s and the Knick took a 53-45 lead into halftime.
The Knicks scored the first four points of the second half and increased their lead to 14 points on several occasions before Afflalo's buzzer-beating jumper gave New York an 80-65 lead after the third quarter.
The Knicks went up by a game-high 17 points, 100-83, on Anthony's 3-pointer with 3:29 left in the game and the Bulls never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
TIP-INS
Bulls: The Bulls have made at least 10 3-pointers 16 times this season. That is the second-most in franchise history since the 3-point line was incorporated in 1979-80, trailing only last season's squad with 21. ... Chicago leads the series with the Knicks 118-100, but is 43-58 at Madison Square Garden.
Knicks: Robin Lopez is the only Knicks player to start all 73 games. ... New York has completed all 17 back-to-backs this season, finishing 8-9. ... The Knicks finished 3-1 against the Bulls this season. Last season, they went 0-4.
UP NEXT
Bulls: Chicago plays at Orlando on Saturday.
Knicks: New York hosts Cleveland on Saturday.
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