Karl-Anthony Towns returns in style to carry Knicks to win
Karl-Anthony Towns returned and put the Knicks back on track.
After missing the previous contest with a sore knee, the star center carried New York’s offense in a 112-98 over the bottom-dwelling Raptors, dropping 27 points to snap a season-high three-game losing streak.
The Knicks (25-13) got top production from Towns as Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges struggled through another rough shooting night. The Raptors (8-29) couldn’t keep up and were run off the MSG court in a dominant fourth quarter by the Knicks, who outscored Toronto by 15 points in the first eight minutes of that decisive final period.
Towns, who added 13 rebounds, two blocks and three steals, left imprints all over the victory.
“He’s capable of doing so much on the court and the gravity he has opens up a lot for us,” Brunson said.
For Towns, it looked dicey in the opening quarter with the center wincing on the court, apparently in pain but for unknown reasons. He declined to discuss his recovery from the knee tendinitis that left him unavailable Monday.
“Man, I’m playing basketball,” he said. “That’s all I think about.”
Nonetheless, Towns was soon joined in wincing Wednesday by Josh Hart, who appeared to hurt his rib area in the first half, darted to the locker room and quickly returned.
“I’ll be fine,” Hart said.
Both continued to play and put up big numbers.
Hart had 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. OG Anunoby added 27 points against his former team, recovering his 3-point stroke while going 4-for-6 on treys.
“Recently there’s been a lot of excitement about being contenders and all that. We’re not listening to it,” Hart said. “Gives you guys something to talk about. When we lose a couple of games everyone panics. But at the end of the day, we’re good. We’re grounded. We’re going to keep getting better.”
The Knicks backcourt continued its recent 3-point shooting woes, with Brunson and Bridges combining for just three converted treys on 15 attempts. Bridges shot just 2-for-11 from beyond the arc. It’s been an issue for a few weeks, but it didn’t matter against the stinky Raptors, who committed 17 turnovers.
“It hasn’t been on par with my standard,” Brunson said of his shooting.
New York was still missing Miles McBride, who sat his fifth consecutive game with a strained hamstring. McBride again tested the injury with a pregame workout but again watched 48 minutes in street clothes.
“He has to go through all the protocols and when he feels good enough, he’ll go,” Tom Thibodeau said. “He’s doing all he can, just gotta be patient and work our way through.”
Without McBride, Thibodeau again utilized an eight-man rotation with Precious Achiuwa, Cam Payne and Landry Shamet as the reserves. They combined for just 14 points as the Knicks continued the trend of having the NBA’s least productive bench.
The Raptors have been an injury-plagued tanking mess this season but brought a fully healthy roster to MSG. RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, the former Knicks, were in the starting lineup and played decently while combining for 38 points.
It was the second time both played against the Knicks since being traded roughly a year ago for Anunoby and Achiuwa. So there wasn’t a video tribute and the crowd reception was muted during lineup intros.
All parties have moved on. Barrett got to go home to his native Toronto. Quickley, who has managed to play just seven games this season, got the big contract extension that wasn’t being offered by the Knicks.
Anunoby also got his fat new contract. The big difference is the Knicks have been winning while the Raptors reside near the bottom of the East.
“We just came out with energy, with focus, attention to detail,” Hart said. “They came out with physicality early. I felt like we matched that. It was a good game and continue to build what we’re trying to build.”
The Knicks were coming off defeats to OKC, Chicago and Orlando — a stretch lowlighted by the dud at home Monday against the Magic without Towns.
The center came back and sent a message.
“There’s things I wished I could have done better, some shots I wish I could get back,” Towns said. “But I’m not really worried about me, I’m worried about the team. We had a three-game skid, for us to find our way today and for me to be able to play, I’m just happy we were able to get this win.”
