WASHINGTON — Jalen Brunson stuffed the boxscore with his double-nickel Saturday, but Precious Achiuwa was responsible for the most exciting — and most celebrated — play of the 136-132 overtime victory over the Wizards.
With about 10 minutes left in the second quarter, Achiuwa received a pass from Landry Shamet in transition and posterized Washington’s Kyshawn George with a soaring, one-handed jam.
The Knicks bench launched into a wild celebration, clearing the bench and surrounding a straight-faced Achiuwa.
“They were going crazy,” Achiuwa said. “I don’t know how they didn’t get a tech from that. Everybody was on the court. It was a cool moment.”
Achiuwa, who said he always tries to remain emotionless after dunks, finished with just three points in 19 minutes.
But he provided the top-10 plays moment.
“That gave us great energy in the first half,” Josh Hart said. “He’s a freak athlete. We need to see that a little more.”
The most animated of celebrators was surprisingly OG Anunoby, who hounded Achiuwa after the dunk.
“I didn’t really see it,” Hart said. “I was doing my own little reaction.”
It’s bad for the Knicks that the Wizards are this bad.
After gutting their asset chest to acquire Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks are still left with the protected first-round pick via their opponent Saturday and Monday night — the 5-24 Wizards.
The pick, which was acquired as part of the complex 2022 trades to dump Kemba Walker’s contract and clear space to sign Brunson, is top-10 protected in 2025.
That already is very likely to convey with Washington sitting at the bottom of the East.
If it doesn’t convey in the next draft, the pick becomes top-eight protected in 2026. If it doesn’t convey by 2026, it becomes two second-round picks.
The Wizards, who are locked into bad contracts for Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma, aren’t close to contention or turning a corner.
But they gave the Knicks a scare Saturday behind Justin Champagnie’s 31 points.
