Knicks finish off Rockets 137-115 as Quickley scores career-high

The Knicks hosted the Rockets last night at MSG and secured a solid 137-115 victory.

Immanuel Quickley had a career-high 40 points, shooting 14-18 from the field and 5-7 from beyond the arc, while also dishing out 9 assists. Quickley started again for Jalen Brunson, who missed his second game with a bruised right hand.

This was a must win. … Winning definitely solves a lot of things. We knew the Rockets were going to come in free-flowing, firing. Very skilled team. So, we knew we had to be on our P’s and Q’s, especially defensively and I think we did that.”

– Immanuel Quickley

The Knicks got their first double-digit lead in the second quarter behind Josh Hart‘s layup, but the Rockets responded with a 10-0 run to tie it in just a couple of minutes. Still, at halftime, the Knicks were up 66-61.

They would go in double digits again in the third quarter, and Julius Randle‘s 3-pointer off Quentin Grimes‘ assist extended the lead to 77-65. The Knicks erupted in the fourth quarter, building a 32-point lead in front of a defenseless opponent.

Randle finished with 26 points, RJ Barrett scored 19 points, and Obi Toppin led the bench with 15 points. Isaiah Hartenstein contributed 8 points and 6 rebounds, showing great efficiency with a +32.

The Knicks recorded a season-high 35 assists and shot an impressive 58.1% from the field, while keeping the Rockets to just 48.3%.

The Rockets were led by Kevin Porter Jr, who had 26 points. Jalen Green scored 19 points, and Kenyon Martin Jr finished with 18 points. The Knicks have now won seven straight against the Rockets, with the Rockets’ last win at the Garden dating back to January 23, 2019.

The Knicks played their first home game since the passing of Willis Reed and wore number 19 shirts during warmups to honor the Knicks legend.

Up-next:

The Knicks (43-33) now look to win the series against the Miami Heat (40-35) to avoid a tie-breaker and secure the #5 seed, on Wednesday night from 7:30pm.