NEW YORK — New York Knicks jumped on Utah Jazz with a 23-0 lead on Friday night, it's the biggest opening streak in the NBA since the league began playing detailed play-by-play throughout all four quarters.
The Knicks trailed for half of the first quarter and led by 28 at the end of the quarter.
Karl-Anthony Towns opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, and when Jalen Brunson scored one midway through the period, the Knicks scored their first 23 points.
It was the most one team has scored before another since the NBA began keeping detailed records of the entire game in 1997.
The Jazz missed their first 12 shots before Keyontae George finally got them on the board with a 3-pointer with 5:27 left in the quarter.
The score was 41-13 after one quarter, and the 28-point lead after one quarter was also the Knicks' largest in the play-by-play era. Utah made 4 of 23 shots (17.4%).
The Jazz also found themselves in the wrong position with another 28-point deficit after one quarter in the NBA this season. Minnesota led 43–15 in its final 137–97 win over Utah on November 7.
The Jazz were performing on the second night of a strange cross-country trip consisting exclusively of concerts in New York. They rallied to beat Brooklyn on Thursday, scoring 42 points in the fourth quarter.
Coach Will Hardy acknowledged that “10 hours on a plane to play two games is a lot,” but said all teams face difficult parts of their schedule.
