The Knicks opened December with a 118-85 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.

Here are some takeaways…

– The Knicks got off to slow starts in the final two games of the road trip, losing by 15 points in each, but that wasn’t the case in this game. They successfully prevailed against the undermanned Pelicans, including scoring 16 consecutive points to take a double-digit lead in the first frame – and never looked back from there.

– New York had a lead of more than 20 points with 1:30 left in the first quarter, and they held the Pelicans to a season-low 28 points in the first half. Tom Thibodeau He emptied his bench with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter as he led by as many as 41 points on the night.

– Mikal Bridges He struggled a bit on offense during the road trip, so it was great to see him pave the way for the Knicks on their return home. The small forward capitalized on a blisteringly hot start to set his career high with 31 points on 12 of 19 shooting from the field and 7 of 12 from three-point range.

– With bridges that carry the load, Karl Anthony cities He wasn’t too active offensively in the first half, but he definitely contributed to the success by grabbing a whopping 17 rebounds. The All-Star big man sat the entire fourth quarter, so he finished the game with just 14 points on 4 of 12 shooting from the field while grabbing 19 boards.

– Jalen Brunson was on track to put together another double-double if he didn’t also sit out the entire fourth quarter. The star point guard scored 16 points on 4 of 11 shots from the field, grabbed two rebounds and provided nine assists.

– Miles ‘Deuce’ McBride He continues to play spectacular basketball since returning from a seven-game absence, as he made his first four shots after coming off the bench early and finished with 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the field.

– The rest of the New York bench also had a chance to shine in the blowout Jericho Sims contributed 12 rebounds, Matt Ryan practiced a pair of three-pointers against his former team, Tyler Kolek handed out a few assists and Ariel Hukporti had a monster slam for the exclamation point.

– The long negative thing about this evening was that OG AnunobyThe offensive battles continued. The two-way small forward is 0-for-15 from three-point range and hasn’t cracked double figures in points since his 40-point performance against the Nuggets a week ago.

Game MVP: Mikal Bridges

Bridges set the tone early and couldn’t miss it, scoring a season-high in points.

Highlights

Upcoming schedule

The Knicks continue NBA Cup group play when they host the Orlando Magic on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m