Knicks outlast Nuggets 134-127 in 2 OTs for their eighth straight victory as Brunson scores 42

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson had 42 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and the New York Knicks outlasted the Denver Nuggets 134-127 in two overtimes Wednesday night for their eighth straight victory.

Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and 12 rebounds while playing with a bandage over his right eye after he was bloodied in a head-to-head collision in the first quarter. He fouled out in the first overtime, but Brunson took over with 10 points in the second extra period.

Jamal Murray scored 39 points for the Nuggets, while Nikoka Jokic had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in his first triple-double since returning from a knee injury last week. Denver lost its third straight, having fallen to conference leaders Oklahoma City and Detroit in his previous two games.

The Knicks had won by an average of 24.7 points during their winning streak before Wednesday's thriller in which neither team led by double digits. OG Anunoby scored 20 points.

The Nuggets lost starting forwards Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones to injuries during the game, with Watson limping off in the fourth quarter with an apparent right leg injury,

The Knicks appeared to have it won in the first overtime when Murray was short on a 3-point attempt in the last second. But officials whistled Mikal Bridges for a loose-ball foul against Christian Braun that review showed came before the clock expired. Braun hit the two free throws with 0.3 seconds left to tie it at 119.

Brunson then scored the first six points of the second OT.

Towns was driving to the basket in the first quarter when he banged heads with Jones, opening a cut over his right eye. After getting treated and bandaged, he made the free throws in his blood-stained white jersey before going directly to the locker room.

Nuggets: Visit Chicago on Saturday.

Knicks: Visit Detroit on Friday.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) fights for control of the ball with New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Denver Nuggets guard Peyton Watson (8) shoot over New York Knicks center Ariel Hukporti (55) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson (23) and Denver Nuggets guard Peyton Watson (8) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Denver Nuggets forward Spencer Jones (21) fights for control of the ball with New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless there's a likelihood of escape, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a preliminary injunction in a proposed class-action lawsuit targeting the Department of Homeland Security's practice of arresting immigrants they happen to come across while conducting ramped-up enforcement operations — which critics have described as “arrest first, justify later.”

The department, which is named as a defendant in the suit, did not immediately comment in response to a request from The Associated Press.

Similar actions, including immigration agents entering private property without a warrant issued by a court, have drawn concern from civil rights groups across the country amid President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts.

Courts in Colorado and Washington, D.C., have issued rulings like Kasubhai’s, and the government has appealed them.

In a memo last week, Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, emphasized that agents should not make an arrest without an administrative arrest warrant issued by a supervisor unless they develop probable cause to believe that the person is in the U.S. illegally and likely to escape from the scene before a warrant can be obtained.

But the judge heard evidence that agents in Oregon have arrested people in immigration sweeps without such warrants or determining escape was likely.

The daylong hearing included testimony from one plaintiff, Victor Cruz Gamez, a 56-year-old grandfather who has been in the U.S. since 1999. He told the court he was arrested and held in an immigration detention facility for three weeks even though he has a valid work permit and a pending visa application.

Cruz Gamez testified that he was driving home from work in October when he was pulled over by immigration agents. Despite showing his driver's license and work permit, he was detained and taken to the ICE building in Portland before being sent to an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington. After three weeks there, he was set to be deported until a lawyer secured his release, he said.

He teared up as he recounted how the arrest impacted his family, especially his wife. Once he was home they did not open the door for three weeks out of fear and one of his grandchildren did not want to go to school, he said through a Spanish interpreter.

Afterward a lawyer for the federal government told Cruz Gamez he was sorry about what he went through and the effect it had on them.

Kasubhai said the actions of agents in Oregon — including drawing guns on people while detaining them for civil immigration violations — have been “violent and brutal,” and he was concerned about the administration denying due process to those swept up in immigration raids.

“Due process calls for those who have great power to exercise great restraint,” he said. “That is the bedrock of a democratic republic founded on this great constitution. I think we’re losing that.”

The lawsuit was brought by the nonprofit law firm Innovation Law Lab, whose executive director, Stephen Manning, said he was confident the case will be a “catalyst for change here in Oregon.”

“That is fundamentally what this case is about: asking the government to follow the law,” he said during the hearing.

The preliminary injunction will remain in effect while the lawsuit proceeds.

Associated Press writer Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.

FILE - Law enforcement officers look out from a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility Oct. 21, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

FILE - Jack Dickinson, dressed in a chicken costume, looks to other protesters outside a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Ore., Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane,File)