Knicks 103, Kings 101: Scenes from ... a winning streak?

In Friday night’s game thread, I assumed that the Knicks had no chance of winning their second game in a row. The Sacramento Kings, though not world-beaters, are a decent squad that was coming off a three-game winning streak. And the Knicks are...well, the Knicks.

How wrong I was. The ‘Bockers stormed back from a 16-point second-half deficit and stunned the Kings, 103-101. It’s the first winning streak of the season for New York. Go crazy, folks!

The Knicks looked to be in bad shape early, as Buddy Hield hit a boatload of threes. Julius Randle played perhaps his best half of the season, keeping them in the game with 17 points — he would finish with a team-high 26.

But the hero of the night was clearly Elfrid Payton, who seized the reins as the point guard, dropped 16 points, and finished with a sterling plus-19. As Payton (and Damyean Dotson) keyed the fourth-quarter comeback, the Kings suddenly went cold from beyond the arc. Hield tried to put the Kings back up late, but Taj Gibson stuffed him with a vengeance.

The game was sealed by Marcus Morris, who followed up RJ Barrett’s miss in the waning seconds.

Mitchell Robinson (14 points, 9 rebounds) outplayed No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley, which was also cool.

Professor Miranda will have the recap tomorrow morning. Get some sleep, younglings.