Knicks Notes: Ariel Hukporti’s first start, Jalen Brunson’s fourth-quarter takeover

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After a disastrous weekend when they were blown out by two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, the Knicks hosted the spiraling Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.

Easy win, right?

Not so fast. The 76ers staged a second-half comeback to take a lead late in the fourth quarter. The Knicks could not come up with consistent enough offense, and Tyrese Maxey put on his cape to help give Philly the lead. But Jalen Brunson put on a bigger cape to score 11 straight points and lead New York to a hard-fought 110-105 win.

Here are some notes from after the game.

Ariel Hukporti’s first start

With Karl-Anthony Towns ruled out prior to tipoff with a sore knee, rookie Ariel Hukporti was tasked with playing center in the starting lineup.

In 16 minutes, the rookie scored eight points while grabbing two rebounds — both on the offensive glass — and delivering one block. Hukporti didn’t get more run because he suffered what the team called a sprained left knee and missed the majority of the second half (coach Tom Thibodeau did not have an update on Hukporti’s condition after the game).

Despite the shortened start, Hukporti’s teammates came away impressed against a very game 76ers team.

“I’m proud of the way he comes in the game and impacts the game and what he does,” Brunson said after the game. “He’s retained a lot in a very short amount of time. Nothing but proud and excited for the way he’s been playing.”

“He did good, real good,” Mikal Bridges added. “Playing hard, communicate and playing the right way. [I told him] Know our coverages and play hard. I know he’s going to play that way. Just do the best you can.”

Precious Achiuwa was the center off the bench and had to play 31 minutes due to the rookie’s injury, but he came up big for the Knicks. He scored seven points while coming down with six rebounds, dishing two assists and swatting four shots, including a block in front of the rim against Andre Drummond in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

Achiuwa said that Hukporti approached him before the game for advice and the veteran big man made sure to drill one aspect of the Knicks’ game plan into the youngster’s…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/knicks-notes-ariel-hukporti-first-052031017.html

Author : SNY

Publish date : 2025-02-27 05:20:00

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