CHICAGO (AP) — Josh Giddey scored a career-high 32 points with 10 rebounds and nine assists, Nikola Vucevic added 26 points, and the Chicago Bulls beat the New York Knicks 135-125 on Friday night to stay undefeated and get out to their best start in nearly three decades.
Ayo Dosunmu came of the bench to score 22 points with nine assists for the Bulls, who improved to 5-0 and are off to their best start since the 1996-97 season when they opened 12-0 and went on to win the NBA Championship.
Billy Donovan earned his 200th coaching win with Chicago.
Jalen Brunson scored 29 points and OG Anunoby had 26 to help power New York’s second-half comeback attempt. The Knicks cut Chicago's lead to two points midway through the fourth quarter after trailing by 22 late in the second quarter.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 points and 10 rebounds despite playing with a right quad strain and landing hard on his hip in the third quarter. Mikal Bridges scored 23 points in the NBA Cup group play opener for both teams.
Both teams relied heavily on 3-pointers, with Chicago hitting 17 of 37 and New York converting 18 of 45. The Bulls outshot the Knicks overall from the floor, 53.6% to 49.5% .
The Bulls opened a 72-53 lead at the half, penetrating with crisp passing plays.
The Knicks went on a 23-9 run to start the third quarter and closed to 115-113 on Anunoby's 3 with 5:43 left in the fourth quarter before Vucevic and Giddey connected on key possessions to ice it.
Mitchell Robinson returned to the Knicks starting lineup after missing New York's first four games with a left ankle injury and had 11 rebounds. Guerschon Yabusele returned after sitting out one game with a sprained left knee.
Knicks and Bulls: The teams meet again, on Sunday in New York.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Murder for Two Read moreMurder For Two
Much Ado About Nothing: A Modern Verse Translation, tells the timeless and hilarious story o… Read moreMills High School Much Ado About Nothing: A Modern Translation
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.