All 30 NBA teams hit the floor on Monday as part of a league-wide effort to free up Tuesday — Election Day — to encourage public participation at the polls.

In a night packed with back-to-back tip-offs, the New York Knicks’ 8:45 p.m. ET matchup against the Houston Rockets may have seemed like just one of many. But beneath the clutter of a fully loaded NBA schedule, this game held unique weight for New York. The Knicks faced a Rockets team known for its rugged, relentless defense, fueled by the grit of Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet — a team that, like Brooks himself, thrives on getting under the opponent’s skin and wearing them down.

This game, however, went beyond the X’s and O’s. For the Knicks, Monday night was all about heart.

The physicality of the Rockets was evident across the court. Jalen Brunson absorbed more hits than he had in any of the first five games of the season, and Karl-Anthony Towns quickly found himself in foul trouble. Head coach Tom Thibodeau leaned on Jericho Sims in the second quarter before taking a risk, keeping Towns on the floor with four fouls early in the third. The decision required both Thibodeau’s faith and Towns’ discipline to avoid a fifth foul while staying active enough to help his team chip away at the Rockets’ lead.

Brunson and OG Anunoby powered through, playing the entire second half as the Knicks whittled down a 15-point deficit in the second quarter and trailed by as much as 13 in the third. By the 5:30 mark in the fourth, they had made it a one-point game, but they never took a lead, and ultimately, the Rockets handed New York its first loss of the four-game road trip with a hard-fought 109-97 loss.

Brunson rose to the occasion, answering Houston’s intensity with his own and finishing with 29 points and 8 assists on 9-of-24 shooting, all with just a single turnover despite the Rockets’ pressure. Yet his final few attempts fell short. With under two minutes remaining and the Knicks down three, Brunson’s turnaround fadeaway missed, followed by a missed three after setting up Josh Hart for an easy bucket. On the ensuing possession, Houston’s Jalen Green buried a three, pushing the Rockets’ lead to eight with 58 seconds left — sealing the game for Houston.

Anunoby turned in his best scoring performance of the season, going off for 21 points while shooting a blazing 5-of-6 from deep. Anunoby’s early threes kept the Rockets’ lead in check, preventing it from ballooning to 20, while his defense was a constant, adding two blocks and a steal to an active night on both ends of the floor.

Meanwhile, Mikal Bridges added 15 points, hitting 3-of-8 from three-point range. Towns, despite his foul troubles, finished with 17 points on 17 shot attempts, pulling down a season-high 19 rebounds in an effort to keep the Knicks in the fight.

But New York’s bench was notably thin, managing only three points on the night — a single three-pointer from rookie Tyler Kolek. Miles McBride, typically reliable, shot 0-of-9, missing all five attempts from downtown, and Sims failed to score. Missing Precious Achiuwa, sidelined with a hamstring injury since the preseason finale, was glaring; the Knicks’ need for depth was clear with Towns in foul trouble.

The Knicks will finish their road trip Wednesday night in Atlanta against the Hawks before returning to Madison Square Garden to face Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

____

©2024 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.