The New York Knicks bounced back in a huge way tonight, completely obliterating the Brooklyn Nets 120-66 in a crosstown matchup that wasn’t even close. After struggling all throughout January, the team finally caught its stride, playing with an urgency that had been missing before tonight, and star center Karl-Anthony Towns was quick to acknowledge it after the game.

“I think losing four in a row better get everyone on the same page,” Towns told reporters during an interview. “I’m glad tonight that everyone looked like they saw what was going on, what we needed to stop the bleeding… consistency is what’s going to make us great, and it’s going to make this season a successful season. So we just got to build on that.”

It wasn’t celebratory, but a clear admission that the team now realizes where it’s headed if things don’t change. That awareness was instilled in Towns and others before tonight, though. According to various reports, star guard Jalen Brunson organized a players-only meeting following the team’s embarrassing 114-97 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

“Guys, we gotta stop looking to the coaching staff for answers, we gotta stop looking elsewhere,” Brunson told teammates, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “The answers to what is wrong with us right now are right in this locker room. We gotta look in the mirror.”

Tonight felt like a course correction. Leading up to the Nets game, the Knicks had lost nine of their last eleven games, even dropping to the #3 seed in the East as the Boston Celtics overtook them. Now, as the team looks to go on a run for a higher seeding in the second half of the season, it will hope to carry that momentum into the playoffs.

Jalen Brunson and Knicks Drop Record-Setting Response to Internal Pressure

Tonight’s game wasn’t just a get-right win for the New York Knicks, but was layered with a sense of urgency. They responded to that urgency by completely crushing the Nets for the largest margin of victory in franchise history. It’s a jarring reversal from their recent struggles, and a welcome change for a locker room looking for a sense of unity and connection.

After the Nets took their last lead of the night at 6-4, Karl-Anthony Towns ripped off seven points as a part of a 14-0 run to take control, going on a 14-3 run afterward to end the quarter, and from that point, the game completely tilted in one direction. The Knicks led 60-38 going into halftime, and the third quarter removed any doubt.

Jalen Brunson stretched the lead to 30 after knocking down a midrange jumper with five minutes left in the third, and the Knicks suffocated Brooklyn possessions, preventing anyone from being able to generate clean looks or gain any rhythm, playing a connective brand of defense.

They opened the fourth on a 16-0 run, ballooning the margin to as many as 59 before the Nets shortened the margin with five points to close the game. Brooklyn managed just three made field goals of their 17 attempts in the final period, finishing with their fewest point total since 2005, and New York came out rejuvenated, having completely stemmed the bleeding.

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