Knicks needed to beat down lowly Wizards twice in uneven victory

The Knicks needed a win so badly Saturday night that they sort of beat the Wizards twice.

The electric second-quarter shooting of Mikal Bridges and significant contributions from some unlikely sources helped the Knicks build a 33-point second-half lead against the NBA’s worst team.

Game over, right? Not quite.

Imagine the nerves in Madison Square Garden when it was a four-point game with 10 minutes left for the Wizards to complete a historic comeback.

Instead, the Knicks reawakened at both ends of the court and went back into cruise control on the way to snapping a two-game losing streak with a 122-103 victory.

“It was four? I didn’t know that,” a surprised Karl-Anthony Towns said after finishing with 31 points and 11 rebounds. “We can’t have those nights — those moments where we play a great first half and then we act like teams are just going to give us the win. This is the NBA, guys.”

Bridges caught fire from long range in the second quarter, scoring 20 points and draining all four of his 3-point attempts.

He finished with 27 points — most of which came during the building of a 79-46 lead midway through the third.

“We’ve all seen those moments where Mikal shows why he is so coveted in this league,” Towns said. “He can score the ball. But he does so much for our team and sacrifices so much so that we can be the best version of ourselves.”

With Jalen Brunson and fellow point guard Deuce McBride sidelined by injury, Cam Payne got his second start of the year and responded with a team-high 10 first-quarter points, including a pair of early 3s.

Payne later hit one of the biggest momentum-flipping shots, a 25-point step-back 3 to give the Knicks a 95-88 lead with 8:55 to play.

“He’s not afraid,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Cam is going to let it fly, which is what we like about him. We have to play tougher with a big lead, but that was a big shot.”

Payne’s 3 halted what had been a 42-13 comeback run by the Wizards.

“It felt good, especially after hitting the side of the backboard twice in a row,” Payne said, referring to earlier misses. “Glad I found a way to help us get the lead back up.”

Bridges looked like a rhythm sharpshooter as he took a total of zero dribbles on the four second-quarter 3s, connecting on two as he curled around the ball-handler, one off of a bounce pass into the corner and one on a catch-and-shoot on the wing. Two splashed in a 16-second span.

But he only attempted one third-quarter shot, as the Wizards slowly began to chip away.

“When someone gets hot like that, usually there will be an adjustment to put two [defenders] on him,” Thibodeau said. “We have to adjust and play off that as well.”

After playing 11 of their previous 13 games on the road while MSG was taken over by the Big East, the Knicks (44-26) opened their longest homestand (three games) over the final three weeks of the regular season by improving to 4-4 without Brunson.

Tuesday against the Mavericks will mark the first time that they play more than one home game in a row since the last game before and first game after the All-Star break (Feb. 12 and Feb. 20).

“I kind of felt like everybody came in knowing it was a must-win for us,” Payne said. “Get back on the right track. We’re back at home.”

Even with two key players sidelined, Thibodeau expanded his rotation to nine in the first 13 minutes.

All nine scored in the first half, including seldom-used rookie Tyler Kolek, who dished out all seven of his assists in the second quarter.

The Knicks led from the point of breaking a 4-4 tie less than three minutes into the game. Late-game scare be damned.

Playing on the road for the eighth time in a nine-game span, the Wizards (15-55) did not look like a threat until their frustrations boiled over in the form of technical fouls against Jordan Peele and Bub Carrington provided a spark.

Twenty turnovers forced by the Knicks ultimately proved too much to overcome.

“They are a good offensive team in terms of pace,” Thibodeau said. “They can make up ground quickly on you.”

Thibodeau had to push his starters — who already play the most minutes in the NBA — a little longer than he probably would have liked because of the pesky Wizards.

Towns was still on the floor until the final 129 seconds. OG Anunoby finished with 23 points and Josh Hart grabbed 12 rebounds.