Karl-Anthony Towns has big night as Knicks squeak out win over Nets
Other than Karl-Anthony Towns around the paint and Josh Hart’s big rebound, there wasn’t much impressive about the way the Knicks performed Tuesday.
They were sluggish, the offense inexplicably disappeared for most of the fourth quarter, and they were one Brooklyn shot away from their worst loss of the season.
But, in the end, the Knicks didn’t need style to topple the tanking Nets, and a 99-95 victory was completed on one of those NBA nights when the final buzzer offered the better team a big sigh of relief.
“These are games that are good tests for us to see how truly close this team is,” Towns said. “I’m proud of us.”
Towns finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds and six assists — though notably without a 3-pointer as he managed the injured thumb on his shooting hand.
The Knicks (29-16), winners of two straight after Monday’s win over the Hawks, led comfortably for much of the game but went ice-cold at the start of the fourth quarter, allowing the Nets to take a one-point advantage with 2:35 remaining.
Jalen Brunson followed with three straight buckets but missed a running layup that would’ve put the victory away with 31 seconds remaining.
Coach Tom Thibodeau thought a foul was warranted — which he made clear in his postgame interview — but it went uncalled.
“What goes on with [Brunson] is ridiculous,” Thibodeau said. “It really is. I’ll leave it at that.”
The miss allowed Brooklyn’s Cam Johnson to attempt a potential game-winner — an open 3-pointer with 12 seconds left that bounced off the back of the rim.
Hart soared for the rebound, called timeout, and Brunson, who scored just 17 points in 39 minutes, hit free throws to clinch the win.
“I didn’t communicate at the top of the key with Precious [Achiuwa] and kind of left Cam Johnson open,” Hart said. “And Precious did an amazing job of recovering and making the contest. I saw how he shot it and figured it would be long and said, ‘I’m just going to grab it. Go get the ball.’ ”
Hart indeed got the ball.
“There’s all these seven-footers and a lot of traffic and he comes up with it,” Thibodeau said. “Big-time play. That probably, obviously is the most important time of the game.”
As far as Tuesday’s most compelling personal story, Mikal Bridges’ return to Barclays Center was uneventful and, like his Nets career, largely disappointing.
There was no video tribute for the former — albeit very briefly — face of the franchise. Instead, the Nets played a long highlight montage of Vince Carter, who is having his jersey retired Saturday for his New Jersey Nets stint. The crowd was pro-Knicks but subdued until the final dramatic minutes.
Bridges, who was traded from the Nets to the Knicks for five first-round draft picks, went scoreless in the second half and finished with just 10 points in 34 minutes on 3-for-12 shooting.
The Nets (14-30) are now the symbol of tanking.
Their only meaningful game this season is Capture the (Cooper) Flagg.
They traded Bridges, their best player, before the season for draft capital and unhelpful players. They were playing too well early in the season, so they dealt two starters for tanking pieces.
Still, they were feisty enough to give the Knicks a scare.
And the Knicks survived. They’re now 11-0 against the four worst teams in the East — the Nets, Wizards, Hornets and Raptors.
“We’re still figuring it out,” Hart said. “We got a little bit of growing as a team and personnel. So we got to figure it out. We know it. But obviously we’d rather do that in wins rather than losses.”
