CHICAGO — Jalen Brunson did it again.
At this point, 40-plus points is just another day at the office during one of the best individual offensive stretches this franchise has ever produced.
The point guard finished with 45 in Tuesday’s 128-117 victory over the Bulls, adding eight assists in another exquisite shooting show.
The win reduced the Knicks’ magic number to 1 for clinching a top-6 spot in the East and a playoff appearance.
The Knicks would’ve done it Tuesday except Miami won in Atlanta.
Still, they emerged from a hectic Tuesday night looking pretty good.
The Knicks moved up a spot in the East to third, jumping over the Magic — which fell to the Rockets.
They’re still a game behind the Bucks, who beat the Celtics but lost Giannis Antetokounmpo to a scary injury to calf area.
The Knicks (47-32) have won three of their last four and Brunson is lighting up every defense.
Tuesday was his 10th 40-point game of the season, which is good for third in team history.
Bernard King dropped 13 40-point games in 1984-85.
Patrick Ewing had 11 in 1989-90.
Brunson was helped in Chicago by OG Anunoby, who had his best game since returning from elbow tendinopathy.
He scored 24 points in 35 minutes.
Donte DiVincenzo added 21 points.
The Bulls (37-42) are fighting for home court in the play-in tournament and beat the Knicks last week on the same court.
But their defense disappeared Tuesday — especially when Brunson had the ball.
Chicago’s greatest contribution in the first quarter was to the blooper reel.
Torrey Craig — streaking on a 3-on-0 breakaway — threw it off the backboard to attempt a self alley-oop.
Except teammate Andre Drummond also went for the ball.
They both collided and missed.
Drummond later left in a wheelchair after rolling his left ankle.
Billy Donovan may want to consider that Kentucky job.
It was a wild finish to the first half.
The Bulls hit two 3-pointers in five seconds, capped by Coby White trey off a steal with 1.6 seconds left.
It would’ve been a deflating way to go into the locker room but DiVincenzo nailed a buzzer-beating halfcourt heave to push New York’s lead to six.
Then the Knicks stormed out to a 13-2 run in the second half, and didn’t look back.
Chicago’s Alex Caruso, one of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders, was helpless against Brunson.
And even when the Bulls committed to blitzing and switching on Brunson in the fourth quarter, it didn’t work.
He’s peaking at the right time, with just three games left and each result holding implications in the playoff standings.
Thibodeau knows the implications of each game but wants his team to ignore them.
“I’ve said this: I think the intensity of the last 10 games of the season, you have to understand it’s different than the first 70,” the Knicks coach said. “There’s almost a playoff intensity to this, and everyone is playing for something. And we can’t get lost. And stay focused on the task at hand, which is to win the game. So don’t get thinking about, like, ‘Oh, this clinches a playoff (spot).’
“Do the things that are necessary to win the game. Just go step by step, and that’s the thing that this team has done extremely well all year long.”
