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NEW ORLEANS — The Knicks didn’t need their best to beat the Pelicans, but they needed Jalen Brunson to strap on his cape.
The Knicks started slowly Saturday against an overmatched opponent, trailing for much of the contest with Karl-Anthony Towns in foul trouble and a disjointed offense. It wasn’t pretty.
But then Brunson rose above the muck and finished off a season-high 39 points with an exquisite fourth quarter, pushing the Knicks to recover with plenty of time to spare in a 104-93 win over the Pelicans.
“That’s Captain, that’s Cap,’ ” Towns said. “You know how I feel about him: one of the most talented players in this league, regardless of position. He went out there and did what he does best. He was fantastic.”
It was a third straight for the Knicks (18-10) and required a comeback from as many as 14 down.
They got very little from Towns, who managed just 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting and dealt with early foul trouble.
But the Knicks kept chipping away, kept searching for different ways to crack New Orleans’ feisty defense.
Finally, with 2:08 remaining in the third quarter, Brunson’s trey gave them the lead — ending 25 consecutive game minutes of the Knicks either tied or trailing.
Once that barrier was removed, the dam broke.
The Knicks never trailed again.
The Pelicans (5-24) didn’t quite let go of the rope, but the hold felt precarious after their lead disappeared. Then Brunson cut them down.
He played 40 minutes, shooting 13-for-19 overall and a deadeye 7-for-10 from beyond the arc.
On a night Towns was frustrated with fouls — finishing with 11 points in 27 minutes with five turnovers — Brunson carried the torch.
“I think it’s a good lesson for us, it’s a good game for us,” Towns said. “I don’t think we had a game like this all year. It was a very different game with a different script. I think we did a good job of learning from our other games and learning from our losses. And finding a way to grit this game out and execute at a high level at the end when we needed to.”
The Pelicans are an injury-riddled mess with the worst record in the Western Conference.
Their top players Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram remain out indefinitely.
Williamson was on the bench Sunday in street clothes, a familiar sight. Their arena was about half-empty and heavy with Knicks fans.
So the expectation was a victory for the visitors, who cautioned not to take the plighted Pelicans lightly.
“I think the biggest thing you learn is there’s good players on every team,” said Josh Hart, who returned from a one-game absence for personal reasons and scored 14 points with right rebounds in 42 minutes. “And if you come in with the mentality of, ‘This team is struggling or this team is not healthy,’ or you might not recognize a couple names. … If you come in with that mentality it’s going to be a tough game and a game you could very well lose.”
The Knicks straddled that line before Brunson took over.
“The ball kept going through the hoop,” the point guard said. “I was just a tad more aggressive at [the end of the game]. Just a credit to everyone, getting stops, running the floors, getting to space and made a run.
“[The Pelicans] were being aggressive. Pressuring. But I had a couple of turnovers early. I think I had three in the first half. I was able to truly understand what was going on and just be smart. I allowed myself to be me and not get sped up.”
