Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns help Knicks beat Bucks, earn 4th straight win

Jalen Brunson scored 23 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 16 rebounds, and the Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 117-85, on Tuesday night for their fourth straight victory.

OG Anunoby made five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points for the Knicks, who have won six of seven since an 0-3 start. They outscored the Bucks 32-13 in the second quarter to blow open the game and then put it away in the fourth after Milwaukee had gotten back into it.

The Knicks got big efforts from their bench, with no starter playing more than 28 minutes on the front end of back-to-back games. Tyler Kolek scored 12 points and provided a spark in the second quarter as the backup to Brunson, Andre Drummond grabbed 14 rebounds in 15 minutes, and Deuce McBride had eight points and the Knicks outscored Milwaukee by 39 while he was on the floor.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 16 points and Ryan Rollins had 14 for the Bucks, who lost their seventh straight and fell to 1-10. They played without leading scorer Tyler Herro, who missed his first game of the season because of a bruised right knee.

The Knicks led by three early in the second quarter before Anunoby and Kolek combined for the next 10 points to make it 36-23. Ousmane Dieng made a 3-pointer before Kolek scored again to ignite another 10-0 run, and Brunson and Anunoby ended the half with consecutive 3-pointers to make it 58-34.

Milwaukee pulled to 85-72 after three quarters and got the first basket of the fourth, but Towns led the way as the Knicks quickly pushed the lead beyond 20, with consecutive 3-pointers by Anunoby making it 106-78.

Josh Hart missed his third straight game, this time because of an illness. He sat out the previous two because of right ankle soreness, but coach Mike Brown said he believed the starting forward was healed enough that he could have played if not for feeling sick.