Jalen Brunson sinks game-winner as Knicks survive Cam Thomas masterclass in win over Nets

One, two, three, four, 5 3-pointers made.

It was a archetypal 4th for the ages for lightning rod Nets defender Cam Thomas, and an opening play from hellhole for a Knicks squad that secured a 124-122 triumph implicit their cross-bridge rival but is inactive moving to enactment its antiaircraft processes aft a notable brace of franchise-altering offseason moves.

The Knicks traded 5 first-round picks to the Nets for Mikal Bridges, past sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns.

They person spent the aboriginal information of the play gathering a antiaircraft individuality astir Bridges arsenic the team’s de facto point-of-attack defender.

And successful Brooklyn, the constituent of onslaught is Thomas, the erstwhile Kyrie Irving understudy who erupted for 43 points connected 16-of-22 shooting from the tract and 7-of-10 shooting from heavy albeit successful a losing effort against the Knicks connected Friday.

Thomas scored 19 points successful the archetypal 4th unsocial and made each 5 of his 3-point attempts successful the opening period.

His show underscored perimeter defence arsenic a indispensable constituent of betterment for a Knicks squad that wants to contend with the Boston Celtics for a changeable astatine an NBA rubric this season.

The struggles person dated backmost to the season-opener successful Boston and person remained a changeless done the Knicks’ aboriginal season:

• Jayson Tatum scored 37 successful a 24-point Celtics victory
• Tyrese Haliburton got a ton of unfastened looks successful Game 2 but missed them each (0-for-8 shooting) successful a 25-point Knicks win
• Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell hung 59 combined points connected adjacent to 60 percent shooting successful the 3rd crippled of the season
• Tyler Herro scored 34 points and made 8 3s
• Haliburton enactment up 35 and 15 successful the Pacers’ triumph successful Indiana
• And the backmost tribunal operation of Zach LaVine and Coby White totaled 54 points successful their buzzer-beating triumph implicit the Knicks connected Wednesday

Add successful the show by Thomas — who often spliced the Knicks defence to decorativeness astatine the rim oregon recovered unfastened looks from beyond the arc — and there’s a wide inclination of Tom Thibodeau’s unit struggling to defender perimeter scorers adjacent though the roster was constructed successful a mode that lended itself to accomplishing that precise feat.

Thibodeau touched connected Bridges’ struggles up of tipoff against the prima forward’s erstwhile squad connected Friday, characterizing them much arsenic squad antiaircraft struggles than issues Bridges bears alone.

“It’s hard due to the fact that you’re doing things with 5 people. So oftentimes if idiosyncratic get scored upon, possibly someone’s not successful the gap, someone’s not speechmaking the shot correctly. So there’s a batch of variables that spell into it,” Thibodeau explained. “It’s not similar shot wherever there’s a hitter and a pitcher and you tin say, ‘OK, that’s a strikeout. That’s a hit,’ and adjacent that sometimes, it’s a enactment thrust and it’s an out. But I deliberation determination are things that you tin measure. There are immoderate things we’re doing good defensively, but determination are things we’ve got to get amended at.

“He’s guarding a batch of constituent guards and that benignant of thing. When you’re evaluating pick-and-roll defence is the connection correct? Is the assemblage presumption of the large correct? Is the ammunition correct? Are we closing the spread correctly? There’s a batch of things that spell into it. We person to get amended astatine a batch of things.”

The Knicks were without Towns (left genu contusion) and Miles McBride (illness), portion Jalen Brunson (sprained close ankle) and Cameron Payne (strained near hamstring) were listed arsenic probable and played done their injuries.

Brunson finished with a team-high 37 points and 7 assists connected 12-of-20 shooting from the tract — including the game-winning 3 successful the 4th — and Bridges added 22 points connected 4-of-7 shooting from downtown. OG Anunoby scored 25 points connected 10-of-17 shooting from the field, and the Knicks moved backmost up to .500 with a 6-6 record.

The Nets missed starting and backup centers Nic Claxton (back procedure) and Day’Ron Sharpe (hamstring strain), but Ben Simmons started astatine halfway and finished with 4 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds successful 25 minutes of action.

The Knicks built a 21-point lead, but the Nets dilatory chipped distant successful the last play and made a propulsion erstwhile Anunoby fouled retired with 4:15 near successful the 4th and the Knicks up seven.

The Nets took a 122-121 pb connected a Dennis Schroder 3 with six seconds near successful the regulation, but Brunson responded with a go-ahead three, and Bridges blocked a last-second effort by Schroder to nonstop the crippled into overtime.

The Knicks big the Nets 1 much clip successful different NBA Cup crippled connected Sunday, past invited the Washington Wizards successful the 2nd limb of a back-to-back earlier embarking connected a five-game West Coast roadworthy trip.

It’s wide they request to enactment connected definite areas of their defense, but a triumph is simply a win, and the Knicks volition instrumentality them arsenic they come.