The New York Knicks will look to post consecutive wins for just the second time this season when they host the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
New York recorded a 111-99 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday to open its NBA Cup group play.
Josh Hart notched his seventh career triple-double and first this season with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Hart, who said during the preseason that he felt “lost” in a new-look Knicks rotation, is averaging career highs in rebounds (9.3) and assists (5.6).
“A lot of what he says, you’ve got to let go in one ear and out the other. He likes to hear himself talk,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau jokingly said of Hart. “That being said, I love Josh.”
Hart has scored in double figures in every game this season. Tuesday marked his fifth outing of the campaign with either a double-double or triple-double.
New York’s marquee offseason addition, big man Karl-Anthony Towns, had his streak of 30-plus-point games end at three when he scored 21 at Philadelphia. Towns also had 13 rebounds in the win.
OG Anunoby scored 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor. That performance came on the heels of his 25 points in Sunday’s 132-121 loss at Indiana.
Chicago sputters into New York having lost five of its last six games after a 119-113 setback vs. the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. Zach LaVine scored 26 points and Nikola Vucevic and Coby White each added 20 in a losing effort.
The Bulls leveraged their balanced scoring into a nine-point lead, but 21 turnovers that Cleveland converted into 35 points contributed to the loss.
“We’re emphasizing pace and the way we want to play, but it’s also my job to recognize if we haven’t gotten a good look in a couple of trips down, slow the game down,” LaVine said per the Chicago Sun-Times. “That’s probably where a few turnovers came from, just leaving my feet. It’s been a little bit of an issue, but I’m the first one to look in the mirror and say I’ve got to be better in that area.”
Chicago is averaging 16.5 turnovers, seventh-most in the league.
Defense also continues to vex the Bulls. They have surrendered at least 119 points in all five of their losses over this six-game stretch. At an average of 120.7 points allowed per game in 2024-25, Chicago sports the NBA’s fourth-most porous defense.
New York’s defense, meanwhile, has been a case of Jekyll and Hyde. The Knicks came into Tuesday’s win allowing 111.2 points per game, but in holding the 76ers to 99, New York is limiting opponents to an average of 99.2 points in its wins.
“Our defense sustained throughout the game and in the fourth quarter,” Towns said, per the New York Post. “So it’s something to be proud of, something to hang our hat on and build off.”
The Knicks have held their opponents under 100 points in each of their last three victories.
