CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Jalen Brunson scored 32 points as the New York Knicks extended their winning streak to three games with a 122-108 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Karl-Anthony Towns capped a 29-point performance with a running floater off the glass with 5 seconds left, as the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame a 14-point deficit in the final 7:32 to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 121-120.
Brunson scored 26 points in the opening half for the Knicks, who built a 15-point lead by the intermission on the way to their sixth win in seven games.
“I think we´re on our way,” Brunson said according to AP. “There´s still a lot of work to do. We´re 13 games in. We´re in a good stretch and we´ve just got to build off of it.”
Donte DiVincenzo added a career-high 25 points, Julius Randle scored 21 points, R.J. Barrett finished with 15 points and Mitchell Robinson had a game-high 14 rebounds for New York. Barrett had missed the previous three games with migraine headaches.
LaMelo Ball led all scorers with 34 points for Charlotte, which lost its fourth straight game. Rookie Brandon Miller had a career-high 29 points and Miles Bridges 19.
Anthony Edwards scored 23 points before fouling out with 10 seconds left while guarding Brandon Ingram along the perimeter. But Ingram missed one of his two free throws, allowing Towns to put Minnesota in front from close range.
The Pelicans still had a shot to win it as time ran out, but Ingram, who had a game-high-30 points, missed a mid-range jumper.
Towns scored 12 in the fourth quarter, including a 3 that gave Minnesota its first lead of the second half at 119-117.
Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the T-Wolves. Jaden McDaniels added 12 points.
Jonas Valanciunas had 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, who played without Zion Williamson.
Elsewhere, Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 27 points as the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies overcame a 19-point deficit and sent the San Antonio Spurs to their eighth straight loss, 120-108.
“Are we going to wait `til halftime,” coach Taylor Jenkins said. “Are we going to wait ´til some speech or anything like this? These are all the things that we know we are fully capable of. It´s everyone´s responsibility to do that and different guys did it throughout the second half.”
Memphis outscored San Antonio 33-14 in the final quarter.
San Antonio rookie Victor Wembanyama finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Keldon Johnson scored 22 points. The Spurs have not won since Nov. 2, when they held on to beat the Phoenix Suns after nearly blowing a 27-point lead.
“In general, I think you know, everybody´s really upset and, you know, everybody´s trying to do their best,” said San Antonio forward Cedi Osman, who had 13 points.
The Grizzlies were without Ja Morant (suspension), Marcus Smart (ankle), Luke Kennard (knee), Brandon Clarke (Achilles) and Steven Adams (knee). Clarke and Adams are out for the season after undergoing surgery.
Desmond Bane scored 26 points, and Santi Aldama and Ziaire Williams had 17 each for Memphis, which recorded its largest comeback of the season.
“Everybody was stepping up,” Jackson said. “They´ve been doing that for weeks and we just clicked tonight in the second half. Big plays down the stretch and big shots by everybody. Very timely shots.”
San Antonio led 94-87 entering the fourth quarter after Memphis trailed by 17 after the first half.
The third quarter opened with Grizzlies guard John Konchar scoring on a layup after stripping the ball from Jeremy Sochan near midcourt following full-court pressure.
“That set a tone for us in the second half,” Jenkins said.
