NEW YORK – Mikal Bridges scored 31 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 points and 19 rebounds and the New York Knicks defeated the injury-depleted New Orleans Pelicans 118-85 on Sunday night.

Bridges, who was substituted in the fourth quarter of victory on Friday in Charlottebounced back by shooting 12 of 19 from the field and 7 of 12 from 3 for the Knicks, who have won seven of their last 10 games.

Jalen Brunson had 16 points and Miles McBride contributed 13 points off the bench.

CJ McCollum had 13 points and Trey Murphy III and Yves Missi each scored 11 for the Pelicans, who have lost eight straight games and 14 of 15.

The Knicks held the Pelicans to 28 points in the first half.

New Orleans shot 35 for 94 from the field and made just four of its 27 attempts from long range.

The Pelicans were without Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Hawkins and Herbert Jones.

souvenir

Pelicans: New Orleans is 1-10 on the road. The only away win at the Smoothie King Center came on October 25th in Portland.

Curtsy: New York won the rebound battle 60-42. Towns had 17 of his 19 rebounds in the first half.

KEY MOMENT

The Pelicans dug themselves into a hole in the first quarter by missing 15 consecutive shots in a nearly nine-minute span in which they were outscored 23-1. At the end of the opening period they trailed 33-10.

KEY STATUS

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, New Orleans’ franchise low for points scored in the first half is 23 against the Philadelphia 76ers on December 12, 2010.

NEXT

New York hosts Orlando on Tuesday night in an NBA Cup game. New Orleans ends its three-game road trip in Atlanta on Monday night.