NEW YORK — The Oklahoma City Thunder were without their star second option — Jalen Williams — for the ninth straight game.

But another one of the team’s stars made up for it. And he looked like he could fill the No. 2 role full-time for Mark Daigneault’s squad if needed.

Chet Holmgren entered Madison Square Garden with a shooting touch, knocking down 6 of 8 3-pointers by halftime. The barrage lifted him to 22 points.

Eventually, he finished with a game-high 28 points to go with eight rebounds and two assists in a 103-100 Thunder win on Wednesday. His scoring total would’ve been much higher had he not cooled off in the third.

Holmgren went scoreless in the period amid better defense from Karl-Anthony Towns and the entire Knicks squad, but he returned when his team needed him most.

His first bucket in the second half came in the fourth on a 14-foot pull-up jumper with 11:09 remaining in regulation.

Two minutes later, the the 7-1 stretch big drew a mismatch over the 6-2 Jalen Brunson. He backed down the Knicks captain and drained a turnaround jumper with ease.

He got it done on the other end, too.

During the Knicks’ late comeback attempt with 5:33 remaining, Holmgren chased down Mikal Bridges in transition to force a missed layup at the rim.

Ironically, he got dunked on by OG Anunoby two possessions later hunting down another block at the rim.

Anunoby’s dunk, though, accounted for just two points. Holmgren’s impact amounted for much more.

The Thunder outscored the Knicks by nine points in the 32 minutes Holmgren played.

He was a force, and Mitchell Robinson’s absence on the second night of a back-to-back proved costly for coach Mike Brown’s team.

It was just enough for a Thunder squad that squeezed away with a three-point win on their own second game of a back-to-back.

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