After watching a 22-point fourth-quarter lead get reduced to single digits Wednesday night, the New York Knicks probably didn’t need any reminding of the importance of playing a complete game.
The Utah Jazz provided one Thursday night anyway.
Utah will look to build off an impressive comeback victory when it completes a back-to-back New York City set by visiting the Knicks on Friday.
The Jazz rode a big fourth-quarter surge on Thursday to beat the Brooklyn Nets 123-110.
The Knicks opened a three-game homestand Wednesday night, when they led wire-to-wire in a 119-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Utah outscored the Nets 42-20 in the fourth quarter to complete a rally from a 15-point first-half deficit and earn back-to-back victories for the first time this season. The Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 133-125 on Monday night.
Seven players scored in the fourth quarter Thursday for the Jazz, who shot 63.6% from the field (14-for-22) over the final 12 minutes, including 75% (6-for-8) from 3-point range.
The 42-point outburst was the biggest fourth quarter of the season for Utah and two points shy of matching its most prolific period, accomplished in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 11 and then achieved again in the first quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Nov. 21.
“In the fourth quarter, we started making shots and having energy,” said Keyonte George, who scored eight of his 29 points in the final period. “To be a good team, you have to be able to win on the road.”
Winning at home hasn’t been a problem for the Knicks, who own an Eastern Conference-best 11-1 home mark. None of the victories at Madison Square Garden were by fewer than eight points.
Still, the Knicks saw room for improvement on Wednesday, when Jalen Brunson’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the second quarter sparked a 47-28 run that extended their lead to 97-75 with 9:29 left in the game.
Charlotte responded with a 21-7 run, and while the Knicks maintained a double-digit lead for the final four-plus minutes, they weren’t able to pull Brunson and his fellow starters — Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Miles McBride and Karl-Anthony Towns — until the last 60 seconds.
The abbreviated rally by the Hornets reminded the Knicks of their 123-117 loss to the host Boston Celtics on Tuesday night, when New York squandered a 14-point lead by being outscored 73-44 in the middle two quarters.
“We’ve got to do a better job of slowing down their runs and limiting them,” Brunson said Wednesday night, “but we can’t let them get all the way back like we’ve been doing. But I think first and foremost, how we respond to that is how we get better as a team. As long as we’re making strides in that direction, we’re improving.”
