Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks hold off Bulls

Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 11 rebounds and Jalen Brunson added 19 points and nine assists to lift the visiting New York Knicks to a 105-99 win against the slumping Chicago Bulls on Sunday night.

Chicago has lost nine games in a row, its longest losing streak since a 10-game skid in the 2018-19 season. Sunday marked the narrowest defeat during the slide.

Matas Buzelis paced the Bulls with 15 points while Guerschon Yabusele posted a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Collin Sexton and Buzelis hit 3-pointers to bookend an 8-0 Bulls run that put the hosts ahead 95-94 with 3:42 remaining. But the Knicks closed the game on an 11-4 surge, with Towns scoring six points. He has scored at least 20 points in five consecutive games.

New York took a 60-59 lead on a Mikal Bridges 3-pointer with 10:03 remaining in the third quarter. That set the Knicks on a 13-2 run that saw Brunson contribute seven points and Bridges five.

Both teams were playing the second leg of a back-to-back. As with Saturday's home loss to the Detroit Pistons, when they trailed by just three points at the break, the Bulls lost steam in the third quarter Sunday.

The Knicks outscored the Bulls 31-25 in the quarter while forcing Chicago into seven turnovers. The Bulls had just six giveaways in the first half.

Landry Shamet (16 points), Josh Hart (11), and Bridges (11) also scored in double figures in the game for the Knicks.

Isaac Okoro and Jalen Smith both had 12 points for Chicago. Patrick Williams added 10 points and eight assists.

Chicago led by as many as eight points in the first half and took a 53-52 lead into the break.

Okoro, Smith, and Yabusele scored nine first-half points apiece while combining to make six of the team's nine 3-pointers before intermission.

Towns led all scorers with 17 points in the first half.

New York earned at least a split of the four-game season series with Chicago, stopping the Bulls' bid to claim consecutive season series for the first time since 2013. The Knicks host the Bulls on April 3 in their final regular-season meeting.

--Field Level Media