SGA closes the door as OKC’s fourth-quarter burst sinks the Knicks

The Knicks hang around long enough to make this feel like a fight, but Oklahoma City owns the final five minutes and turns a tight game into a 111-100 win behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s late takeover. New York gets within two in the fourth and keeps poking at the Thunder all night, yet every time the visitors threaten to flip the script, SGA has the answer — a pull-up, a bank shot, a dagger three, then the steady march to the foul line that shuts the door.

This one opens with real pace and real balance. Oklahoma City edges the first quarter 26-23, and the second quarter becomes the game’s first turning point. The score is tied at 42 when Jalen Williams steps into a 14-foot step-back jumper with Chet Holmgren on the assist, igniting a 9-0 Thunder push to 49-42. That burst matters because it’s the first time OKC starts to separate, even if New York keeps clawing back. By halftime, the Thunder have only a one-point cushion at 53-52, and the Knicks make sure this never becomes a runaway.

New York’s best stretch comes in the third, when Jalen Brunson keeps the offense afloat and the Knicks chip away. Karl-Anthony Towns is active on the glass all night, finishing with 18 rebounds, and Josh Hart gives them a lift with 15 points and five threes. But the Knicks never quite get over the top. They trail 84-78 after three, then make their boldest move of the night early in the fourth, trimming a 92-81 deficit to 92-91 on Towns’ free throw. For a moment, it feels like the game might belong to Brunson’s shot-making and New York’s rebounding edge.

Instead, that’s when Oklahoma City slams the window. With the score still tight at 95-93, Brunson drives for a finger-roll layup at 4:47, but SGA answers immediately with a 14-foot pull-up at 4:33 to restore breathing room. A few possessions later, Alex Caruso snatches a steal, and Gilgeous-Alexander drives for a banked jumper to make it 101-95. Then comes the backbreaker: SGA rises into a 26-foot pull-up three at 3:37, stretching the margin to 104-95 and forcing New York to chase a moving target that keeps getting farther away. From there, Holmgren finishes a driving floater and later a cut to the rim, while Lu Dort adds a steal of his own to keep the Knicks from generating any clean response.

The numbers tell the story, but the late sequencing tells it better. Gilgeous-Alexander finishes with 30 points, four assists and a constant supply of pressure at all three levels. Jalen Williams chips in 22, including that momentum-setting step-back in the second, and Holmgren adds 16 points with rim runs that punish any lapse in coverage. For New York, Brunson is brilliant and relentless with 32 points, five rebounds and five assists, and he scores in the clutch — the layup at 59.8 seconds and another drive at 41.8 — but it’s too little, too late. Bridges adds 15 points and four steals, Towns posts 15 and 18, and Hart gives them extra shooting, yet the Knicks can’t stop the Thunder when it matters most.

Oklahoma City improves to 111-100 by winning the most important minutes of the night and showing exactly why it’s so difficult to beat when its stars are in sync. The Thunder don’t need a comeback, because they never truly lose control after the opening stages; they just wait for the fourth-quarter opening and then rip the game apart. For New York, this is the kind of loss that stings because the effort was there, but the late defensive sequence against SGA is a reminder of the gap between competitive and complete. If these teams meet again, the matchup still favors Oklahoma City’s two-way ceiling — especially if the Thunder can keep creating late-game clean looks for their closer.