Jalen Brunson leads Knicks past Wizards thanks to 41-point masterpiece

With the Knicks’ bench depleted Thursday night due to the absence of Josh Hart, Tom Thibodeau stuck with four of his five starters — all but OG Anunoby — for the entire third quarter on the tail end of back-to-back games with the Knicks trailing one of the worst teams in the league.

Thibodeau eventually rested his starters for a brief period early in the fourth, before Jalen Brunson took over the game and bailed out the Knicks, who eventually pulled out a too-close, 113-109 win over the lowly Wizards at the Garden to open the second half of their 82-game schedule.

Brunson poured in 20 of his game-high 41 points in the final quarter, while Julius Randle finished with 21 for the Knicks (25-17).

“Whatever it takes to win. Teammates and coaches have confidence in me, and I have confidence in them. We just want to win. Whatever it is, whatever needs to be done,” Brunson said. “It’s the end of the game; you’re trying to win. It’s a little different, but the approach stays the same. I gotta have the same attacking mindset, but I also gotta be smart. You gotta know time, score and situation. It’s a little different but not that much.”

Brunson, who added eight assists and eight rebounds, also joked during his on-court interviews that “it must be a Villanova thing,” referencing the game being billed as “Villanova night” at MSG.

“He’s an All-Star. Just make sure he’s in Indiana or we’re going to riot a little bit. We might have to all pull up to Indiana,” Isaiah Hartenstein said.